AOL's Instant Messenger service was finally erased from the internet Friday after the company made the announcement in October that Dec. 15 would be the chat platform's last day on Earth.
Long gone are the days where parents would mandate time limits on teens' internet usage as you messaged away emojis and emo song lyrics in a chat room with friends.
AIM first emerged in 1997 and paved the way for the countless instant messaging platforms that exist today, such as Facebook Messenger, Gchat and pretty much every app's own messaging service.
For a substantial period from the '90s and 2000s, a majority of teens used their parent's dial-up services to log on to family computer to speak over the web with people they likely saw every day (unless you visited the Wild West of AIM, a.k.a. a chat room).
AIM was known for its memorable catchphrases like: BRB, LOL, ROFL, TTYL, 143, A/S/L????, LMAO, IDK, IDC, LYLAS, LYLAB, OMG, WTF, SRY, L8R.
Its many abbreviations have carried on through the years as generations old and new turn to texting as a main form of communication.
"We know there are so many loyal fans who have used AIM for decades; and we loved working and building the first chat app of its kind since 1997," AOL remembered the service in a post shared announcing its soon-to-be passing.
"Our focus will always be on providing the kind of innovative experiences consumers want. We're more excited than ever to focus on building the next generation of iconic brands and life-changing products," a statement from the company continued.
The AIM platform was home to countless song lyric away messages and creative screen name personas before things turned professional and social media users more regularly began using their real names for their accounts.
AIM provided users the opportunity to be creative in describing themselves to the world. For example, girls embraced the "Lil" moniker while many boys declared their fandom for a favorite sports team.
The news comes as AOL was acquired by Verizon in June 2015 for $4.4 billion. The new venture will be dubbed "Oath." On Friday, a marketing agency created a website so that AIM fans could keep their screen names alive forever.
After its 20 year run, AIM finally signed off Dec. 15 after a long battle with competing messaging services. It leaves behind Slack, Facebook, Twitter, texting, SMS, MMS, Gchat and many other forms of communication including sometimes possibly face-to-face.
Explore further: AOL Instant Messenger to sign off
