AOL Instant Messenger

After 20 years, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is officially shutting down AOL Instant Messenger. AIM was one of the first online messaging services to catch on in mainstream America. At its peak, AIM had more than 18 million simultaneous users, and the ability to communicate instantly made...

At 13, I sat at my parents' boxy, black Dell in deep distress. It was time to define my first online persona, and as an obsessor of symbols, I placed great importance on my chosen screen name. My peers played up their court prowess with “bballgirl” or their preoccupation with...