For those of us who just can’t let go of those screen names we made as teens, a team-up with Google shows promise of reviving the use of our old AOL Instant Messenger contact lists. The new feature to both Gmail and AIM is an added option of talking to buddies across both clients. Frequent Gmail users can import their buddies from AIM and chat them up on Gmail and those still using AIM can add their Gmail buddies to their buddy lists.

 

The merge was a largely quiet one and many speculate that it is a sign of the slow death of AIM. The messenger, which was one of the internet’s first social networking devices before the social network was even invented, was once more popular to exchange than phone numbers. It was simple and efficient. Users chose a screen name and away message status if they would be away from the computer. Profiles were a simple text box. However, this simplicity is what lent itself to a great deal of customization. Fonts and backgrounds became a big deal. Profiles were tinkered around with to the users’ liking—mostly by messing with easy HTML code. Icons and emoticons were a big deal.

 

Now in the afterglow of Facebook, video chat services like Skype and Tinychat, and Twitter, it seems less and less users are making use of AIM. Merging with Gmail may revive interest in the old messenger. It definitely makes chatting with friends who are dedicated to one of the services a much easier task.