AIM (software)
instant messaging service
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM, sometimes stylized as aim) was an instant messaging and presence information computer program created by AOL that operated from 1997 to 2017. It used the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow users to communicate in real time.
AIM launched in May 1997 and became popular by the late 1990s; teens and college students were known to use the messenger's away message feature to keep in touch with friends, often frequently changing their away message throughout a day or leaving a message up with one's computer left on to inform buddies of their ongoings, location, parties, thoughts, or jokes.
AIM's popularity declined during the 2000s and 2010s as AOL subscribers started decreasing and as Gmail's Google Talk, SMS, and Internet social networks like Facebook gained popularity. Its fall has often been compared with other once-popular Internet services, such as Myspace. In June 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications. In June 2017, Verizon combined AOL and Yahoo into its subsidiary Oath Inc. (now called Yahoo). The company discontinued AIM as a service on December 15, 2017.
History
In May 1997, AIM was released unceremoniously as a stand-alone download for Microsoft Windows.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “AIM (software)” is instant messaging service. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through software, instant and messaging, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q58066. 1 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1997, 2017 and 2015.
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This entry incorporates text from “AIM (software)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.