#aimemories

By Michael Albers, VP of Communications Product at Oath

If you were a 90's kid, chances are there was a point in time when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was a huge part of your life. You likely remember the CD, your first screenname, your carefully curated away messages, and how you organized your buddy lists. Right now you might be reminiscing about how you had to compete for time on the home computer in order to chat with friends outside of school. You might also remember how characters throughout pop culture from “You’ve Got Mail” to “Sex and the City” used AIM to help navigate their relationships. In the late 1990’s, the world had never seen anything like it. And it captivated all of us.

AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed. As a result we’ve made the decision that we will be discontinuing AIM effective December 15, 2017. We are more excited than ever to continue building the next generation of iconic brands and life-changing products for users around the world.

Death has always been humanity’s most mysterious boundary — the final curtain, the last silence, the one door no one returns through.

But in the age of artificial intelligence, even this ancient boundary is beginning to shift.

Across the world, a new concept is emerging: Smart Cemeteries — places where technology, AI, and digital memory preservation meet to redefine how we honor the dead, remember them, and even communicate with their preserved digital presence.

Well, it’s the end of an era. Our childhood is dying and we are all dinosaurs. Last week, the folks at AOL announced that its trailblazing program, Instant Messenger, would be shutting down for good in December. https://twitter.com/aim/status/916290747850264577 Like many millennials, I haven’t used AIM in years, but it was such an integral part to our lives when the internet was just becoming a…