This is bringing back so many memories. AIM was so much a part of my high school and college social communication experiences. It really was so innovative. To find out now that it was essentially accomplishing so much despite being the ugly stepsister at AOL? Wow. I had so many deep conversations with real-life friends on AIM! And made a few online-friends that way, too. Katie, Stacey, Loralie, Hyla, remember a/s/l being the equivalent of a creeper warning?! AIMs social communication constructs spilled over into forum etiquette and shorthand elsewhere, as well, as with entertainment sites like WB. When Facebook began its rise to dominance, I remember AIM was beginning to wane, so I ended up copy/pasting my entire AIM profile into my FB profile. Most of it is still there, in the form of quotes. I remember wondering why AIM didnt migrate over to GChat and such when Google began to dominate, but always figured that was just a sign of AOL being out with the times and other apps gaining proportionally to how their companies grew and innovated. I didnt realize how true that assumption was.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 19:40:41 +0000