I had a significant "social" life on AIM back in the mid '00s.  Pretty much everyone, especially in the gamer/tech community, used AIM.  Slowly but surely by friends list got smaller and smaller starting around late 2006.  I continued to use AIM pretty frequently until around 2009.  I had one friend I still talked to on it until 2012 but I haven't even logged into it since then.

Were you an AIM user back in the '00s and when did you stop using it?

Yeah, it was about 2005 or 2006. Yahoo Messenger on the other hand I used until 2012.

I stopped using AIM in 2011. BTW, does anybody remember ooVoo?

As a kid, I was fascinated with using AIM. I didn't really use it until 2010, even though that's when most people stopped using it and went for either Yahoo! Instant Messenger, or Skype. Things didn't really work for me on AIM, so I just used YIM (from Yahoo). After that, I haven't used another IM client until I used Skype in early 2015.


I stopped using AIM in 2011. BTW, does anybody remember ooVoo?


You actually had an account on AIM? Man, I would've loved to talk to you on AIM back then.

As a kid, I was fascinated with using AIM. I didn't really use it until 2010, even though that's when most people stopped using it and went for either Yahoo! Instant Messenger, or Skype.

You actually had an account on AIM? Man, I would've loved to talk to you on AIM back then.

Yeah, same. I didn't use AIM until 2009/2010. Oh and yes I had an account on AIM back then. It's crazy to think how fast time has gone since then.

AIM wasn't that popular here (it had "American" in the name)! We used MSN and Yahoo! Messenger. I used MSN from 1999 when I was a little kid to 2010 when I graduated. it started to become less popular after late 2008 when Facebook started to become popular. I miss it  :\'( Although Facebook Messenger and Slack/Discord are a decent replacement, I'm sure I'll be nostalgic for those too in 10 years time.

AIM wasn't that popular here (it had "American" in the name)! We used MSN and Yahoo! Messenger. I used MSN until 2010, it started to become less popular after late 2008 when Facebook started to become popular. I miss it  :\'( Although Facebook Messenger and Slack/Discord are a decent replacement, I'm sure I'll be nostalgic for those too in 10 years time.

Me too bruv.

Yeah, same. I didn't use AIM until 2009/2010. Oh and yes I had an account on AIM back then. It's crazy to think how fast time has gone since then.


I didn't have a lot of contacts on AIM. In fact, I only had a few chats with people on AIM. But I didn't take them fondly. Plus, AIM was a bit glitchy for my computer, so I uninstalled it a few weeks later. Other IM clients that I used were Google Talk and Yahoo! IM before I had Skype. But I miss when people just used to chat each other via IM.

I only had an AIM account temporarily. For some reason I never got into it. That was back in 2006. But looking back, I wish I would have.

I used MSN a good amount. For Spaces mostly. I only had a few friends I used messenger with. The design was much sleaker. But as time went by it went to crap. And when Skype came around everybody went to that. I could be wrong, but I'm quite certain that MSN messenger was still around when it got started. But then they ended it and sent users to Skype. And switched everything to Outlook, which I hate. First I lost Spaces, then they got rid of profiles. And thus I lost all the photos I had saved! I continued using their services for quite a while but then something happend with my accounts that I'm too pissed about to explain. So I refuse to use them again. In all I have had several different addys with them under the different servers. I was there from 1997 to 2014.

Yahoo! was my thing! YIM, chat rooms, groups and several other things. I much preferred it over every other servers. Also, I was a huge user of Answers. It was so much fun. Now it is boring and full of winey and immature teenagers. The vast majority of Yahoo's services are gone unfortunately. If I'm not mistaken their chat service though is still available. But last time I used it it had to be done directly through the email webpage and not a separate app. I have been with Yahoo since the early 2000's but I can't pinpoint a specific year. And I've also had different accounts with them.

Google GMail I only got in recent years. I'll have to try and figure out when. But I still have my original account. Though I have had others along with it. But they have their own chat feature that I've never gotten into.

In all, I still choose Yahoo over everything else. But there have been other chat/IM services. ICQ is one. It's still around but I never tried it.

I don't like Skype for a number of reasons. But I hate showing my face in chats especially.

R.I.P. MSN

I only had an AIM account temporarily. For some reason I never got into it. That was back in 2006. But looking back, I wish I would have.

I used MSN a good amount. For Spaces mostly. I only had a few friends I used messenger with. The design was much sleaker. But as time went by it went to crap. And when Skype came around everybody went to that. I could be wrong, but I'm quite certain that MSN messenger was still around when it got started. But then they ended it and sent users to Skype. And switched everything to Outlook, which I hate. First I lost Spaces, then they got rid of profiles. And thus I lost all the photos I had saved! I continued using their services for quite a while but then something happend with my accounts that I'm too pissed about to explain. So I refuse to use them again. In all I have had several different addys with them under the different servers. I was there from 1997 to 2014.

Yahoo! was my thing! YIM, chat rooms, groups and several other things. I much preferred it over every other servers. Also, I was a huge user of Answers. It was so much fun. Now it is boring and full of winey and immature teenagers. The vast majority of Yahoo's services are gone unfortunately. If I'm not mistaken their chat service though is still available. But last time I used it it had to be done directly through the email webpage and not a separate app. I have been with Yahoo since the early 2000's but I can't pinpoint a specific year. And I've also had different accounts with them.

Google GMail I only got in recent years. I'll have to try and figure out when. But I still have my original account. Though I have had others along with it. But they have their own chat feature that I've never gotten into.

In all, I still choose Yahoo over everything else. But there have been other chat/IM services. ICQ is one. It's still around but I never tried it.

I don't like Skype for a number of reasons. But I hate showing my face in chats especially.

R.I.P. MSN


Your situation is very similar to mine. For whatever reason, I never used AIM much growing up. When I was in high school, it just so happened that most of my friends used Yahoo! Messenger, so that was my main platform during the early '00s. Around 2004, I started using MSN Messenger more often, and by 2005 I was using MSN pretty much exclusively. I also remember using ICQ around the time we first got the internet in 2000.

As to the main question, I stopped using these types of "messenger" services altogether right around 2010 or so. By that point, pretty much all my friends had Facebook accounts, so it became somewhat pointless.

I had a significant "social" life on AIM back in the mid '00s.  Pretty much everyone, especially in the gamer/tech community, used AIM.  Slowly but surely by friends list got smaller and smaller starting around late 2006.  I continued to use AIM pretty frequently until around 2009.  I had one friend I still talked to on it until 2012 but I haven't even logged into it since then.

Were you an AIM user back in the '00s and when did you stop using it?


AIM was at its peak in 2006 LMAO 2009 is when it died
do you remember  AIM on PSP when the psp came out

AIM was at its peak in 2006 LMAO 2009 is when it died
do you remember  AIM on PSP when the psp came out


AIM was at its peak way before 2006. People used it a lot more between 2001-2005. People didn't use AIM that much by 2006, but it was still useful. By 2008, many people went for other clients while AIM just bites the dust ever since.

AIM was at its peak way before 2006. People used it a lot more between 2001-2005. People didn't use AIM that much by 2006, but it was still useful. By 2008, many people went for other clients while AIM just bites the dust ever since.


I partially agree.  AIM was at its peak during the first half of the decade.  However, it remained quite popular in the second half.  It did have a relatively slow decline in the second half compared with say MySpace (which was everywhere in 2007 and all but dead by 2010).

I partially agree.  AIM was at its peak during the first half of the decade.  However, it remained quite popular in the second half.  It did have a relatively slow decline in the second half compared with say MySpace (which was everywhere in 2007 and all but dead by 2010).


Well, AIM was still relatively popular until the very early 2010s. I still can't believe that I actually remember using AIM, even though I was born in late 1999. The IM client was okay, even though not a lot of people used it by 2010. When I stopped using AIM, many people did the same. Now everything for chatting is for Skype, which sucks because you can't use it separately as an IM client compared to other chat clients.

I think I stopped using AIM in the early 2000's till later on My Father and I discovered Skype.

AIM was at its peak way before 2006. People used it a lot more between 2001-2005. People didn't use AIM that much by 2006, but it was still useful. By 2008, many people went for other clients while AIM just bites the dust ever since.


incorrect, AIM was the 1# messaging client in 2006. It may not have been as big as it was in 1999-2005 but it was still
big and was not declining. I can't count how many times I saw the words  " add me on AIM" pop up on Myspace bulletins.

incorrect, AIM was the 1# messaging client in 2006. It may not have been as big as it was in 1999-2005 but it was still
big and was not declining. I can't count how many times I saw the words  " add me on AIM" pop up on Myspace bulletins.


I'm not gonna lie, but AIM was sort of big during 2006. It's just not a lot of people thought it was that good anymore. By mid 2007, most websites didn't really send in AIM links.

I actually was a user of it from 2001 until 2007 when our first PC died.

Aim died in late 2009/ early 2010 case closed

Aim died in late 2009/ early 2010 case closed


How? By the time I joined AIM in 2010, there was still a few members that I remember chatting with. It probably died around late 2010 to me.

Here's how AIM came and go through my eyes:

1997-2000: AOL Desktop Extension
2001-2007: Mainstream Era
2008-2010: Waning Era
2011-present: Modern Era

Aim died in late 2009/ early 2010 case closed


That sounds about right. As an anecdote, the last time I remember actively using MSN was in the summer of 2010, when me and my project group-mates used it to communicate for our English class project. In late 2010 when I got my smartphone, I installed an ad-hoc MSN app, and looking through my friends list, it was almost completely deserted. And when I'd try to chat with people, they would get really annoyed, as if they only accidentally left it on. ;D

Thankfully, my nerdy friends still used Steam Chat, so I can still have a good traditional IM chat. :)

How? By the time I joined AIM in 2010, there was still a few members that I remember chatting with. It probably died around late 2010 to me.

Here's how AIM came and go through my eyes:

1997-2000: AOL Desktop Extension
2001-2007: Mainstream Era
2008-2010: Waning Era
2011-present: Modern Era


I still used Aim on Windows XP in 2010 and by then yes there were people who used it, but not as many as there was before.
It was dead by August 2010

I still used Aim on Windows XP in 2010 and by then yes there were people who used it, but not as many as there was before.
It was dead by August 2010


Well I did say that AIM was dead by late 2010. So it's mostly like that.

Could you still download AIM these days? ???

Could you still download AIM these days? ???


You can, but it's not really the same compared to users who had it in the early-mid 2000s.

Yeah, it was about 2005 or 2006. Yahoo Messenger on the other hand I used until 2012.

I stopped using AIM when they disabled my version of it (5.5.3598ca) and then last dec they stopped AIM all together...... Really very sad. Only IM client I liked!!! (Used it many years)

Never used AIM, but I was using MSN up until 2010.

I think Discord is way better. I got into it last year. Beats Skype any day of the week!

With Microsoft now owning SKYPE I would think anything would beat it!

Oh we're not talking about the toothpaste are we?

I probably stopped using AIM around late 2006 and then starting using YIM and MSN up until late 2008.

Never used AIM, but I was using MSN up until 2010.

I think Discord is way better. I got into it last year. Beats Skype any day of the week!


I agree that Discord is cool.  I was thinking that it might be nice if this forum had a discord server.

I actually hate Discord, Skype was so much better and pissed that everyone stop using it! >:(


It's amazing how popular Skype was and how fast it fell out of favor.

2009/2010