AIM will shut down after 20 years
It’s a sad moment: AIM, AOL’s long-running instant messenger service that was core to many people’s first social experiences on the internet, will shut down once and for all on December 15th. AOL announced the shutdown today, acknowledging that people now communicate in new ways online, so AIM is no longer needed.
“AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed,” writes Michael Albers, communications products VP at Oath (the Verizon behemoth that consumed AOL).
AOL cut off access to AIM from third-party chat clients back in March, hinting at this eventual shutdown. It’s hard to imagine that many people…