AOL Instant Messenger just put up the ultimate away message.The once mighty web portal announced Friday it will discontinue its Instant Messenger, the program that was the go-to communication method for teens and twenty-somethings before cell phone text messaging became the norm. Commonly known as AIM, the program has been active since 1997 and will say "goodbye" for good on Dec. 15.In a morning tweet -- an irony, considering Twitter, in its own way, is a successor to the program -- AIM said "All good things come to an end.""If you were a 90s kid, chances are there was a point in time when AOL Instant Messenger was a huge part of your life," Michael Albers, VP of Communications Product at AOL's parent company Oath, said in a statement. "You likely remember the CD, your first screenname, your carefully curated away messages, and how you organized your buddy lists."After its heyday in the 90s and early 2000s, however, the increase in cell phone messaging, Facebook and other social media platforms led to a steep decrease in AIM usage."AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift," Albers said, "but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed."

AOL Instant Messenger just put up the ultimate away message.

The once mighty web portal announced Friday it will discontinue its Instant Messenger, the program that was the go-to communication method for teens and twenty-somethings before cell phone text messaging became the norm. Commonly known as AIM, the program has been active since 1997 and will say "goodbye" for good on Dec. 15.


In a morning tweet -- an irony, considering Twitter, in its own way, is a successor to the program -- AIM said "All good things come to an end."

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All good things come to an end. On Dec 15, we'll bid farewell to AIM. Thank you to all our users! #AIMemories https://t.co/b6cjR2tSuU pic.twitter.com/V09Fl7EPMx — AIM (@aim) October 6, 2017

"If you were a 90s kid, chances are there was a point in time when AOL Instant Messenger was a huge part of your life," Michael Albers, VP of Communications Product at AOL's parent company Oath, said in a statement. "You likely remember the CD, your first screenname, your carefully curated away messages, and how you organized your buddy lists."

After its heyday in the 90s and early 2000s, however, the increase in cell phone messaging, Facebook and other social media platforms led to a steep decrease in AIM usage.

"AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift," Albers said, "but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed."

