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Back in 2003, I would've found it absolutely inconceivable to not chat with my HS classmates on AIM. For me, even bigger than MySpace dying was AIM dying. It st

• deleted 9y ago
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• dev1n 9y ago
  The content stays the same, but the medium changes. Most content is either written word, voice (like radio) or video (television -> youtube). The medium that content lives in will always change. I think positioning a product that would allow you to move your content between the different mediums (i.e. myspace to facebook to ??? or blogger -> wordpress -> Medium) would be huge. Something like IFTTT but on steroids.
  • em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
    Take a look at the W3 recommendation "ActivityPub" [1] which is a shred protocol for communicating not only across different servers of a social network but also across different social networks. I think using an interoperable protocol is better than having to move your content to another walled garden every few years. [1] https://activitypub.rocks/ https://activitypub.rocks/
    • dev1n 9y ago
      awesome thanks for the link!
• bad_good_guy 9y ago
  I find it interesting you think the fall of Facebook-like platforms will affect Snapchat. As far as I'm aware Snapchat is popular for the same reason WhatsApp is - you send your updates to people you choose too, not some huge acquaintance-list or group of 'followers'.
  • rblatz 9y ago
    How does that differ from AIM? Eventually social networks migrate platforms, and the old one starts to get stagnant and finally perishes.
    • bharris62 9y ago
      Although it may have the same fate, AIM suffers from being computer only when it was in its prime. (maybe always) Anywhere I go I can socialize on whatsapp, or snapchat or whatever app.
      • tibbon 9y ago
        I think you're touching on something here. Around the launch of the iPhone (and rise of Androids) many companies that got on the mobile-first bandwagon survived, and those that assumed web-only to be the best way really quickly died. I don't think it was purely Facebook that killed MySpace and AIM, it's that they didn't get on phones quickly enough.
        • namelost 9y ago
          What made Whatsapp popular is that it worked just like SMS. Users are identified by phone numbers, so you can use your existing contact list. However unlike SMS it didn't cost eye-watering amounts of money to use. Whatsapp never became popular in the USA because most people on pay-monthly contracts received large SMS allowances. In the rest of the world, networks felt threatened by SMS -- if texts were too cheap then people would stop making phone calls! So it was universally crippled with ridiculous limits and fees. Even in 2018 it costs me a lot of money to send an SMS, and I don't know anybody under the age of 35 who uses it.
    • wil421 9y ago
      Why would anyone use AIM when our primary device is a cellphone these days? iMessage, What’s App, and other apps provide more functionality that is right at my finger tips at all times. AIM and AOL were popular when we didn’t have texts or even cellphones. It wasn’t so common to give kids cellphones early in those days.
• Drakim 9y ago
  I suspect that was very geographical, over here (Norway) young people were on MSN Messenger. It was practically universal for anybody who wasn't an old fart.
  • a13n 9y ago
    I'm from Seattle. My friends and I used MSN too.
    • yellowapple 9y ago
      Sacramento. Some friends/family used AIM, others used MSN. I guess it depended on whether or not they were AOL customers.
  • catdog 9y ago
    Indeed, here (Germany) everyone was on ICQ.
  • seba_dos1 9y ago
    In Poland, we had a network called Gadu-Gadu. Everyone was there until Facebook happened. Virtually no AIM, ICQ nor MSN usage here. There was a brief period of most of the people being reachable via Jabber too thanks to Gmail and Android, but Hangouts mostly screwed that up, both in terms of Jabber interoperability and their own native usage.
  • ficklepickle 9y ago
    Me too, in Canada. After ICQ, that is. I just realised I still remember my ICQ number! Ah the good ol' days, when contacts were only saved locally.
    • TheCycoONE 9y ago
      Also Canadian, I can easily recall the ICQ number I haven't used in 15 years but I couldn't tell you my student number from University despite all the times I wrote it. Coincidently that was when Facebook was exclusive to students and even then far more popular with us than MySpace. I'm not sure how this 2007 article could have missed it.
• nostromo 9y ago
  And after AIM my friends migrated to Gchat. The real mystery to me is why Google let Gchat wither on the vine. For many years it was my primary way of chatting with friends. (Now it's iMessage.)
  • niftich 9y ago
    Google Talk appearing inside Gmail, and Facebook opening up to more than just .edu addresses both happened in 2006. Keep in mind, Gmail was still invite-only until 2007. In 2008 Facebook introduced Facebook Chat, and ever since then Google has acted [1] to try to challenge Facebook for social networking -- and this caused Google's communication offerings to alternatingly be neglected or leveraged for that cause [2]. Google didn't win. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16351254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16351254 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13465483 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13465483
• macspoofing 9y ago
  You mean everyone in your region. Nobody I knew was on AIM. Everyone was on MSN Messenger.
  • ACow_Adonis 9y ago
    Australia here. Tech crowd started on ICQ. Masses started to arrive and use MSN. Honestly, I wouldn't even be able to tell you what AIM was...
  • deleted 9y ago
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  • jasikpark 9y ago
    US = (mostly) AIM UK = (mostly) MSN MESSENGER correct me if i’m wrong.
    • lbearl 9y ago
      AIM = AOL Instant Messenger AOL = America OnLine It makes sense.
      • ionised 9y ago
        My friend had AOL in the UK. Used to frequent their chatrooms. Not sure if they were an ISP or something but I do remember their presence in British internet access.
    • gcatalfamo 9y ago
      Italy was all in on MSN as well
      • paublyrne 9y ago
        Ireland also.
        • namank 9y ago
• losteric 9y ago
  I remember moving to FB when my mom joined MySpace... I've since straight up quit social media, but I know folks that moved on to IG/Snap so they could broadcast content they didn't want certain social groups to see via FB. Of course now those social groups are joining the newer mediums. Maybe social media platforms are inherently cyclical? At least under the "maximum growth" mindset: * Innovators develop new platforms because they're unhappy with the old * Early adopters like the new platform's features or community * If it's good enough, the early majority slowly follows as knowledge disseminates * New features and narratives are developed to attract the late majority and laggards * The presence of those people, and tactics used to attract them, disenfranchise the early adopters * Unhappiness rises until a new digital eden is discovered. Then the cycle repeats
  • deathhand 9y ago
    My personal journey: Slashdot, Digg, Reddit, HN
    • time0ut 9y ago
      Slashdot, Reddit, Ars Technica, HN here, though I still read Ars every day.
    • kbenson 9y ago
      That makes me feel even more weird about going Slashdot, HN, sometimes-Reddit-but-mostly-HN. but I'm a bit weird with account creation. A service generally has to really prove its worth before I bother to create an account. I spent a couple years on HN before before bothering with an account and commenting, and it took way longer after that until I finally found some Reddit communities that made me want to create an account (and even now, I comment sparingly), even though I looked at it occassionally.
      • matwood 9y ago
        > That makes me feel even more weird about going Slashdot, HN, sometimes-Reddit-but-mostly-HN. Same, except I started with CompuServe, then MSN before /. I visit a few reddits now, but I still don't really like the feel for some reason.
• peterjlee 9y ago
  I think what killed AIM, MSN, etc. was SMS. You had to meet your friends in person at school or be home in front of a computer to talk to your friends. With SMS you can talk to them anytime, anywhere. Then smartphones came out and apps like WhatsApp, FB Messenger and LINE took over.
  • autokad 9y ago
    MSN was helped by the integration into the most used email at the time, hotmail. It was still pretty good, you could play mind sweeper on it with your friends, most of my international friends used it. they had a pretty good market penetration in China too. Then MSFT was like, OK we bought skype. EVERYONE WILL USE SKYPE.
    • kerng 9y ago
      Yeah. I miss Messenger, it could have become what FB Messenger is now, but Microsoft decided otherwise.
      • cdmckay 9y ago
        I don’t think so. Most people I know (myself included) use FB Messenger because it already has all your friends on it. MSN doesn’t integrate with your FB contacts automatically so not sure it could occupy the same spot.
  • sizzle 9y ago
    I had the T-Mobile sidekick pre Android which ran AIM and I thought it was revolutionary at the time to not have to be on a PC.
    • vvanders 9y ago
      The sidekick was so ahead of its time. Push AIM, email(including pop3!), an appstore. I still have fond memories of mine. Not a surprise that Andy Rubin went on to build Android.
  • 9y ago
• thinkloop 9y ago
  Instagram seems like it would be the most resilient. It's so low level, with few gimmicks, you just share a piece of media. Humans will want to share with each other until the end of time. Snap and fb have interesting features but it's less clear whether they will always remain popular. What are some shifts that can take Instagram down? The main one I can think of is decentralizion and owning/controlling your own data, but that would hit almost everything. Do you think the shift away from these sites will be structural/technological (again, like if the world generally moves towards a different business model than data collection), or do you think these sites will be hit for specific reasons?
  • dvt 9y ago
    > Do you think the shift away from these sites will be structural/technological (again, like if the world generally moves towards a different business model than data collection), or do you think these sites will be hit for specific reasons? No. I think it will be completely cultural. In other word, exactly what happened with MySpace, AIM, etc. Young people will want something new, different, novel. The underlying technology and functionality will, in all likelihood, be exactly the same.
    • sizzle 9y ago
      VR/AR chat anyone?
      • 734786710934 9y ago
        Facebook already has that base covered with Oculus.
      • TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
        That would be my guess. Second Life but without the clunk. But it will need a new platform. I can't see it happening on phones.
  • yakshaving_jgt 9y ago
    I can tell you what's killing Instagram for me: - Too many ads - Too much spam (fake accounts) - Dark UX patterns (withholding notifications to encourage addiction) - Unpredictable sorting behaviour (if I have a post with better engagement than another post in the Top Posts for a given area, why doesn't my post beat theirs?) - Unpredictable behaviour generally. My posts get only 20% the engagement they did 18 months ago.
• jmartrican 9y ago
  NJ USA used AIM. I still never found anything better than the search feature they used to have. I would search for "female", "North jersey", and I think even age.... then send a message to everyone that popped up.
  • Sharlin 9y ago
    Uh... I think I know why a search like that isn’t a thing anymore.
    • cannonedhamster 9y ago
      If I remember correctly you had to allow yourself to be searched for like that, essentially it functioned as a really cool way to search for people interested in talking and for the most part it worked. There was this really awesome young lady I met on there once and to this day I consider it a loss that we lost touch. She was big into Python programming and I learned a lot from her.
• drc555 9y ago
  Facebook represents the nuanced version of expression of existing culture( albeit only shiny one). Social validation is here to stay. So is FB.
• deleted 9y ago
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• Merad 9y ago
  It's crazy how much more complex it feels like communication has become. Back then basically all of your RL friends were either on AIM or not online at all. If you were a more tech/internet savvy person you probably also had ICQ for many of the people you met online and you might hang out in a couple of IRC channels. Today even if you aren't a digital social butterfly you probably have half a dozen different messaging/chat apps.
  • idunno246 9y ago
    and it didnt even matter what network others were on, you just installed adium/pidgin/etc which could connect to all of the networks and abstract it away. today everything is completely walled off
    • icebraining 9y ago
      Thing is, everything was walled off before too. Microsoft often broke MSN Messenger's protocol, probably on purpose.
• sizzle 9y ago
  I remember having to reload my Nokia brick phone with like 100 text messages. That was painful and just filled in the gaps until I could get back to AIM on a PC.
• hkmurakami 9y ago
  Young people were on AIM st one point, but it seemed like the generation before was on ICQ and the generation after was on MSN messenger. Then the generation after that was probably on Skype, then hangouts/FB messenger after that? And now Snapchat?
  • isostatic 9y ago
    So that's 6 generations in 20 years?
    • hkmurakami 9y ago
      4 year cycles since the mid 90's sort of sounds about right.
    • Double_a_92 9y ago
      Middle school is usually 3-4 years. I think one cycle of that counts as generation ._.
• niftich 9y ago
  The cohort of young people that used AIM/MSN/Y! (depending on your region) aged up into Facebook Chat [1]. Facebook captured the 'chat with people you know in real life' usecase, gradually leaving distance-only or interest-specific friends on the old chat networks. This greatly contributed to their decline. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15417521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15417521
  • TACIXAT 9y ago
    While it's anecdotal I was heavy on AIM and never got into Facebook chat. It's actually a bummer for me, I loved chatting and the chat apps all kinda died off.
    • volkl48 9y ago
      While I use a lot of FB Chat, I feel like the thing I use most like old AIM is Steam's chat. I chat randomly with a lot of people, some of which I don't know in real life.
  • Osmium 9y ago
    > The cohort of young people that used AIM/MSN/Y! (depending on your region) aged up into Facebook Chat [1]. Speak for yourself, most of my social group is split between iMessage and WhatsApp. Even so, what Facebook has that MySpace didn't is enough money to buy up its competitors to stay relevant (e.g. WhatsApp). So this might be what will happen, even if Facebook itself fades in relevance. (Bear in mind that even if Facebook Messenger grew in popularity as AIM declined, so too did the number of people online increase, and the number of people with smartphones -- saying that one increased while the other decreased is not sufficient.)
    • woodpanel 9y ago
      > Even so, what Facebook has that MySpace didn't is enough money to buy up its competitors to stay relevant Echoing that, I'd add that FB/Zuckerberg knows when to do one of the following with an upcoming competitor a) snatch it up b) throw company's resources at duplicating it
• yorby 9y ago
  I never got AIM... I think around that time I had ICQ
• throwaway2016a 9y ago
  Back in 1999, I would've found it absolutely inconceivable to not chat with my HS classmates on ICQ. In fact I still have my ICQ # memorized (there were numbers not screen names or email addresses). Before that, IRC :) All they needed to die was something new and shiny that people felt could be a credible alternative.
• ramijames 9y ago
  I felt that way about ICQ, back in the day.
• simonh 9y ago
  I can see that happening. Facebook exploded in the desktop web era. For today's kids desktops are for work, not socialising except when playing games online using Skype or Discord. My girls are 13 and 14 and just created Facebook pages purely for updates on activities for a club. Everything else is in WhatsApp, WeChat (for Chinese relatives), Instagram, etc. Lightweight special purpose apps linked to tight groups of friends. The last generation wanted a one-stop solution to their social media needs. The new generation see that as some unwieldy monolithic platform for mums and dads. Having said that, if there is a place of a monolithic platform like that maybe facebook is it. They can probably still stay relevant and useful, they're just not the be-all and end-all of social media they appeared to be. I hope.
• sandos 9y ago
  No, ICQ was the shit back then!
• lmm 9y ago
  Frustratingly AIM is actually really good these days, but that doesn't help if none of your friends are on it.
• tuananh 9y ago
  Yahoo messenger! was huge in Vietnam.
• yomly 9y ago
  I don't think MySpace vs Facebook is really a real comparison. Facebook has reached a level of ubiquity that MySpace could never have dreamed of. That little white F in a blue square is a global symbol and it won't be undone in a few bouts of bad PR. I think we, the tech literate, forget just how other people interact with tech. I need only to look at my parents interacting with Facebook to see how they're still so addicted to it (my aunt still is addicted to candy crush ffs). Don't forget all the social lock in Facebook has on you: a decade's worth of photos and all the friends you picked up along the way. Sure, people are unplugging, but I personally think they've got critical mass.
  • ddebernardy 9y ago
    Myspace also reached a level of ubiquity that prior social media (think Six Degrees, ICQ, Friendster, AIM, etc.) could only dream of. Its downfall also illustrates how little it mattered that they were then hosting their users' digital life. A new generation rose using a new social medium, and this lack of new users eventually sucked the life out of it. That, incidentally, is probably why Facebook paid so much for WhatsApp.
    • yomly 9y ago
      You're entitled to your opinion. But I don't think you're even comparing apples to apples here. Facebook claims 2.2 billion monthly active users. Sure, that is a flattering and inflated number, but at face value that is about 28% of the world's population. That is "the world's most recognized word is Coke/Apple" levels of mindshare. That simply doesn't go away overnight. People no longer drink 24 bottles of Coke a day[0] but Coke is still everywhere and ubiquitous. Hence my assertion that Facebook has critical mass: the history of MySpace isn't a useful analogy for trying to stipulate what might happen to Facebook. After a certain size/ubiquity they can sidestep user exodus, if only through sheer acquisition of the replacement. Perhaps a concession is that Facebook the product may be gone in a decade. I'll be very surprised if Facebook, Inc. is gone. [0] https://www.ft.com/content/bd4d1876-e464-11e4-9039-00144feab7de https://www.ft.com/content/bd4d1876-e464-11e4-9039-00144feab...
    • signal11 9y ago
• amelius 9y ago
  I'm wondering if the following scenario could push Whatsapp out of its leading position. Imagine a platform (Android or iOS) to develop an API for a "message center" where all information from email, chat, system messages come together. This message center will then become the main place for users to read their messages. At this point, the user doesn't really care which app the messages came from, and Whatsapp has lost grip on its leading position.
  • _mghw 9y ago
    Honestly, if iMessage were to ever come to Android, it might have the best shot. No one understands google's offerings anymore, whereas Apple has already a strong presence.
• thathappened 9y ago
  I was a weirdo making stuff before I researched if it already existed back in 2004. I made a site for musicians to post music, sell or distribute it merch, control previews, analytics, yadayada all on an calpop p4 server when my then gf told me about Myspace. I moved on to other things when she showed me FB and I learned I couldn't sign up without a .edu, they lost me there. I registered in 2006 for a blind date, uploaded a pic of a salad bowl, never spelled my name correctly or used my real dob (I'm a melinnial and knew in 94 compartmentalize my online behavior) and doubled with an ethos crafted around consistency, I've done alright for my generation. No friends, but still alive!
• heedlessly2 9y ago
  Best part of FB is that you can say or post something on your wall to a non-specific person without being too bothersome to your friends. AIM had user profiles where you can post anything, but you needed to be click and constantly be curious. Whereas FB's newsfeed is a subtle tap on the shoulder. AIM is good close friends, but FB is better at bridging the gap among less-closer and acquaintainces