![]() They experimented with all the ways there are to building a relationship, including one through a computer screen. Through AIM, a generation learned to detect sarcasm in print, and honed passive aggression in verse. Those born in that high-millennial sweet spot of 19 developed an infallible memory of Brand New lyrics and Saves the Day lyrics and Bright Eyes lyrics and early Coldplay lyrics (and Death Cab for Cutie and Dashboard Confessional and Something Corporate and the list goes on). Moss, widely regarded as the authority on the craft after running the parody account for half a decade, commemorated its main tenets Friday: “The perfect away message either sends a signal to your crush (perfect lyrics, maybe something from Dashboard Confessional?), vents about authority ( señora Jones is such a biatch for this hw!! Ugh!) Or brags about something only a 15-year-old would find cool ( homecoming game then diner w the girls. Some have learned this lesson better than others.ĪIM users knew that being online was only a close second to being offline, with an away message ready to go. And anyway, what kid born after 1982 says “toke?” Whatever. She was just trying to seem cool in front of some guy who said he was very popular at his school. ![]() And she had to explain, mortified, that no, your daughter has never “toked” and, frankly, doesn’t know how one would go about “toking” even if she wanted to. Like when a boy from a different school asked one anonymous user if she “tokes,” but she didn’t know what it meant and instead of asking Jeeves, she said, “ya, constantly toking.” And then her dad saw the conversation because she walked away from the computer for just one second. AIM was a warning shot for the dangers implicit in pressing send on anything. They bore holes into the crush’s usernames rendered in pixels, willing him or her to reach out first. Millions of teenagers yearned their first yearnings through the invention, signing off and on so their crush would notice them. A sophisticated social structure could be divined from just one Buddy List grouping (“Best Friends,” “Friends,” “Best Camp Friends,” and so on.) Every user knew who was online and when. Soon after its birth, its developers bestowed one of the greatest gifts to the Web: Patent US 6750881 B1 “User definable on-line co-user lists.” The Buddy List. But to the users in its decade-long heyday, it was a touchstone for growing up, both in real life and on the Internet.īorn 1997, AIM showed early signs that it would transform how we communicate. ![]() In 2012, AOL cut AIM’s development staff, the digital equivalent of a terminal diagnosis. There was a revolving door of leadership and pivots to video. There was a merger (Yahoo) and an acquisition (Time Warner). There’s Snapchat and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter, each with their own direct-messaging components. It will be laid to rest December 15 in the Internet graveyard, somewhere between LiveJournal and .Įvidence of decline had been apparent for years. The Internet bid adieu Friday to AOL’s Instant Messenger, or more familiarly AIM. ![]()
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