


That the program has existed so long after its heyday is surprising in and of itself. It was like Twitter before Twitter.ĪIM’s popularity started to decline when Gmail and others offered built-in chatting functions-and plummeted when smartphones took off. Some put up facts ( mom needs the computer), others put up song lyrics they identified with, and others put up messages to alert friends about the actions of other friends. Users could set away messages-perhaps when they finally relinquished the computer to someone else in the family-which became a whole separate way of communicating on the app. Users could chat with friends privately or in public chatrooms, which was probably the first experience many had interacting with strangers on the internet. Do people still do that and where do they do it 16 comments. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, I used to chat with strangers on ICQ, AIM, and IRC. Do people still do that and where do they do it Close.

Voice and video calls In order not to spend money on phone calls, make calls via ICQ: make voice and video calls, with a large group or one-on-one. Calls, voice messages, chats, channels, and everything you need for communication all in one handy messenger.
#Icq chat 90s download#
It was released as a standalone chat program that any Windows user could download in 1997, and AIM took off. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, I used to chat with strangers on ICQ, AIM, and IRC. ICQ is a messaging app for those who are always online. There would have been no inspiration for services like WhatsApp, Twitter, or Facebook without these predecessors: The people that built these networks grew up when AIM was the primary method of internet communication for the first generation that had connected computers from a young age.ĪIM had started out as a built-in chat function in the AOL Desktop, the combined web browser/media player for dial-up customers of America Online (of which there are still 2 million customers in 2017, somehow). Also includes video, audio, and text chat modes. You can share pictures of yourself and others with the ICQ picture sharing tool. You can chat with Facebook friends by adding your Facebook friends to your contact list.
#Icq chat 90s free#
Services like AIM, and others, such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and ICQ, laid the groundwork for the messaging apps and social networks we now all use. With ICQ you can make free calls, send messages, talk, chat, and send files to your friends.
