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History and Origin

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The idea of instant messaging had been around for a while, but it really took off in November of 1996 when the company Mirablis introduced ICQ, a phrase meaning “I seek you”. It was one of the first real-time IM (instant messaging) programs available and works much like the programs still do today. Not long after this, AOL came up with its own instant messaging program. Supposedly, it was originally referred to as “flashmail” and users would say that they were online “flashing” people. Now the official name is AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and people refer to it as “IMing” or “chatting”. Today, there are many different IM software providers some of who are combining together so there are large networks of users that can all communicate with one another.



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