Mashable

A Brief History of Instant Messaging

Among its many uses and benefits, the Internet has transformed and simplified how people communicate with each other around the globe. In addition to email, instant messaging has played a large role in bringing people together. From ICQ to AIM, Google Talk to Facebook Talk, Internet users have been able to send messages to each other instantaneously for years.

But where did it all commence? Instant messaging has been an evolving idea for a long time, so it’s somewhat difficult to pinpoint its origin. In fact, did you know that instant messaging, or at least an early form of the concept, actually predates the World Broad Web?

Here’s a look at the significant advances of instant messaging made over the past fifty years.

Astounding Beginnings

The phrase "instant messaging" entered common usage in the early 1990s, but the concept actually dates back to the mid-1960s. Multi-user operating systems such as the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), which was created at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Computation Center in 1961, permitted up to thirty users to log in at the same time and send messages to each other. The system, which is perhaps closer to what we now think of as email, had hundreds of registered users from MIT and other Fresh England colleges by 1965.

In the 1970s, programmers worked on peer-to-peer protocol, permitting universities and research labs to establish plain communication inbetween users of the same computer.

The Zephyr Notification Service, also created at MIT through Project Athena in the 1980s, used Unix to locate and send messages to users. Some institutions, including MIT and Carnegie Mellon University, still use the service.

The 1980s also eyed fine interest in the bulletin board system, or BBS — a system that permitted users to use a terminal program to upload and download software and exchange direct messages with others.

In 1982, Commodore International released the Commodore sixty four PC. The Commodore sixty four included an Internet service, Quantum Link (also known as Q-Link), which came to be known as America Online (AOL) in the ’90s. Q-Link users could pay a monthly fee to send text-based messages to others via modem, and the receiver had the option of responding to or overlooking the messages.

CompuServe’s CB Simulator, created in one thousand nine hundred eighty to simulate citizens band radio through text-based messages and user treats, is considered the very first service dedicated to online talk.

The Rise of the Instant Messaging Market

In 1996, Israeli company Mirabilis launched ICQ, a text-based messenger that was the very first to truly reach a widespread market of online users. ICQ permitted for multi-user talks, file transfers, a searchable user directory and more. AOL acquired Mirabilis and ICQ in 1998, later selling it to Digital Sky Technologies in 2010. The latest version of ICQ includes Facebook integration, mobile sync and further updates.

The true turning point, however, occurred in 1997, when AOL launched AIM, attracting a fresh generation of tech-savvy Internet users. When you think of AIM, you can most likely hear the sounds of opening and closing doors when friends appeared and disappeared on your Acquaintance List. Like the services before it, AIM permitted users to send messages to each other, and included user profiles, away messages and icons for more engagement. With AIM also came the development of different bots, such as StudyBuddy and SmarterChild (which have since been retired), with whom users could interact. By 2005, AIM predominated the instant messaging market with fifty three million users. Talk rooms, in which numerous people could IM with each other, were another popular AOL feature.

Yahoo launched Yahoo! Messenger in 1998, originally under the name Yahoo! Pager. Used with a user’s Yahoo! ID, Yahoo! Messenger included customized "IMVironments," address book integration and custom-made status messages. Like AOL, Yahoo had a talk room service.

Pidgin, founded as "Gaim" in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight as an open-source instant messaging client, permitted users to reach contacts on several operating systems. In 2007, it was estimated that Pidgin had three million users.

Microsoft released MSN Messenger in 1999. A press release from its launch read, "MSN Messenger Service tells consumers when their friends, family and colleagues are online and enables them to exchange online messages and email with the more than forty million users of the MSN Hotmail TM Web-based email service as well as with people using AOL Instant Messenger." Microsoft renamed the service Windows Live Messenger in 2005, adding photo sharing capabilities, social network integration and games. In 2009, the company announced more than three hundred thirty million active users every month.

Instant Messaging Language

A major aspect of the rise of instant messaging in the 1990s was the shorthand language and acronyms that came with it:

A Brief History of Instant Messaging

Mashable

A Brief History of Instant Messaging

Among its many uses and benefits, the Internet has transformed and simplified how people communicate with each other around the globe. In addition to email, instant messaging has played a large role in bringing people together. From ICQ to AIM, Google Talk to Facebook Talk, Internet users have been able to send messages to each other instantaneously for years.

But where did it all commence? Instant messaging has been an evolving idea for a long time, so it’s somewhat difficult to pinpoint its origin. In fact, did you know that instant messaging, or at least an early form of the concept, actually predates the World Broad Web?

Here’s a look at the significant advances of instant messaging made over the past fifty years.

Amazing Beginnings

The phrase "instant messaging" entered common usage in the early 1990s, but the concept actually dates back to the mid-1960s. Multi-user operating systems such as the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), which was created at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Computation Center in 1961, permitted up to thirty users to log in at the same time and send messages to each other. The system, which is perhaps closer to what we now think of as email, had hundreds of registered users from MIT and other Fresh England colleges by 1965.

In the 1970s, programmers worked on peer-to-peer protocol, permitting universities and research labs to establish ordinary communication inbetween users of the same computer.

The Zephyr Notification Service, also created at MIT through Project Athena in the 1980s, used Unix to locate and send messages to users. Some institutions, including MIT and Carnegie Mellon University, still use the service.

The 1980s also witnessed superb interest in the bulletin board system, or BBS — a system that permitted users to use a terminal program to upload and download software and exchange direct messages with others.

In 1982, Commodore International released the Commodore sixty four PC. The Commodore sixty four included an Internet service, Quantum Link (also known as Q-Link), which came to be known as America Online (AOL) in the ’90s. Q-Link users could pay a monthly fee to send text-based messages to others via modem, and the receiver had the option of responding to or disregarding the messages.

CompuServe’s CB Simulator, created in one thousand nine hundred eighty to simulate citizens band radio through text-based messages and user treats, is considered the very first service dedicated to online talk.

The Rise of the Instant Messaging Market

In 1996, Israeli company Mirabilis launched ICQ, a text-based messenger that was the very first to indeed reach a widespread market of online users. ICQ permitted for multi-user talks, file transfers, a searchable user directory and more. AOL acquired Mirabilis and ICQ in 1998, later selling it to Digital Sky Technologies in 2010. The latest version of ICQ includes Facebook integration, mobile sync and further updates.

The true turning point, however, occurred in 1997, when AOL launched AIM, attracting a fresh generation of tech-savvy Internet users. When you think of AIM, you can very likely hear the sounds of opening and closing doors when friends appeared and disappeared on your Friend List. Like the services before it, AIM permitted users to send messages to each other, and included user profiles, away messages and icons for more engagement. With AIM also came the development of different bots, such as StudyBuddy and SmarterChild (which have since been retired), with whom users could interact. By 2005, AIM predominated the instant messaging market with fifty three million users. Talk rooms, in which numerous people could IM with each other, were another popular AOL feature.

Yahoo launched Yahoo! Messenger in 1998, originally under the name Yahoo! Pager. Used with a user’s Yahoo! ID, Yahoo! Messenger included customized "IMVironments," address book integration and custom-made status messages. Like AOL, Yahoo had a talk room service.

Pidgin, founded as "Gaim" in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight as an open-source instant messaging client, permitted users to reach contacts on several operating systems. In 2007, it was estimated that Pidgin had three million users.

Microsoft released MSN Messenger in 1999. A press release from its launch read, "MSN Messenger Service tells consumers when their friends, family and colleagues are online and enables them to exchange online messages and email with the more than forty million users of the MSN Hotmail TM Web-based email service as well as with people using AOL Instant Messenger." Microsoft renamed the service Windows Live Messenger in 2005, adding photo sharing capabilities, social network integration and games. In 2009, the company announced more than three hundred thirty million active users every month.

Instant Messaging Language

A major aspect of the rise of instant messaging in the 1990s was the shorthand language and acronyms that came with it:

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