AOL Instant Messenger to shut down on December 15

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), many of ours' first social experience on the Internet will shut down forever this December 15, the company announced on Friday, 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,” Michael Albers, communications products VP at Oath wrote in a post.

When AIM launched in 1997, using the World Wide Web required a desktop computer with a clunky dial-up connection that tied up the phone lines. AIM played the most significant role in establishing the Internet as a place to hang out rather than being a simple utility.

But, its refusal to evolve with time meant that in the age of smartphones, AIM lost its relevance in front of text messages or other social apps, like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. Other classic chat apps that have shut down in recent years are MSN Messenger (shutting down in 2014) and Yahoo Messenger shutting down last year (although Yahoo also launched a new messaging service under the same name).

AOL cut off access to AIM from third-party chat clients back in March, hinting at this eventual shutdown. People can download images they sent until December 15th, but the app’s download links will start disappearing from now. Unfortunately, there’s no way to save or port your buddy list.