AIM was the killer app of 1997. It’s still shaping the internet today

Decades before Messenger, WhatsApp or Slack, AIM was the killer app of instant messaging. "It was the quintessential millennial technology: a free messaging service that allowed people to broadcast their personalities, via avatars and profiles, for semi-public consumption. AIM invented the idea that you were always online — and if you weren’t, you’d set up an away message to let people know." Writing in Fast Company, Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan explains how AOL's pioneering messaging service is still shaping the internet today.