Happy 20th birthday to my first true love: AOL's Instant Messenger
 

Happy 20th birthday to my first true love: AOL's Instant Messenger
http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/fIsrm3J_dKBA...643090dba4.pnghttp://a.amz.mshcdn.com/assets/feed-...8be198fb13.jpghttp://a.amz.mshcdn.com/assets/feed-...6a4ca77139.jpg
Long before we had umpteen different online profiles, there was AIM.*

In the heady days of 1997, when AOL Instant Messenger came into the world, there was **thing else like it. Conceived within the hallowed halls of AOL, AIM introduced a large swath of early internet consumers to an idea that would be seized on by any number of multi-billion-dollar companies: You, but online.*

Twenty years later, there's still something about AIM. It came out just as average consumers were starting to get online en masse. And instead of presenting users with a**ther random message board where one might converse with strangers, AIM was about connecting with IRL friends through your curated "buddy list" — an idea so singular, AOL even patented it. Read more...

More about Business, Messaging, Aim, Instant Messaging, and Aolhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/UZwBhILXjnI