AOL's chat rooms were wildly popular years ago, but times have changed. Story highlights AOL chat rooms, popular in the 90's and early 00's, are less so today thanks to new technology Chat rooms helped the users communicate rapidly with others like themselves Today, social networks' chat services let people exchange in real time with existing friends Still, some networks like Twitter and Linked In thrive on creating bonds between strangers.
Last month, Sean Parker of Napster fame launched Airtime. Amid the hoopla of the launch -- attended, for some reason, by Jimmy Fallon and Snoop Dogg -- Parker told an anecdote about meeting his business partner, Shawn Fanning, 15 years ago in a chat room, saying , "There's something exciting about bringing spontaneity to the Internet. All of your interactions online are constrained by the people you already know. Napster founders launch Airtime video chat. So far, Airtime hasn't exactly been a hit.
Apparently people don't feel constrained by interacting with the people they know -- they feel comforted by it. But what, exactly, did happen to the chat rooms Parker so fondly remembers? His relationship with the company started in , before it was America Online. The beta test was dubbed "Samuel" and for Schober, a teenage fan of BBSes bulletin board systems , it was an intriguing opportunity. He recalls a "little frontier town" where you could initially recognize almost every screen name you came across.
When the main chat room filled to capacity, necessitating the creation of Lobby 2, the community celebrated. So the experience of going into a chat room and getting a response a couple of seconds later from someone who was in the same chat room was just really cool. Slowly, the service grew, expanding to support DOS and eventually Windows.
The chat product, called People Connection, had a variety of rooms for people interested in such topics as genealogy and strategy games. More: Smiletime now pop. When launched in , AIM was a staple of personal computers. Created as an extension of AOL's desktop software, the instant messaging client helped to revolutionize the way people interact online. But the service's popularity declined as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter took over the online social scene.
AOL only officially shut down the service late last year, citing a "cultural shift" in the way people communicate. All good things come to an end.
On Dec 15, we'll bid farewell to AIM. Both the software and account is free, and you won't need to subscribe to AOL's dial-up or broadband Internet service to access the chat rooms either. The software you'll need to download depends on the types of chat rooms you want to join. Since both buddy chats and People Connection chats use a special protocol within AIM or AOL Desktop, there's no specific web address you can use to visit the rooms outside the programs.
Chat rooms on the AOL Games website, on the other hand, are accessible through any web browser. AOL also has a paid service, AOL Desktop Gold , that has chat rooms not available to users of the free or older versions of the software.
AOL's registration page lets you choose a screen name, fill out your personal information, and set up a password. After the brief sign-up process, you'll see a confirmation that your screen name is ready to use. AOL People Connection is the main home to dozens of chat rooms grouped into two categories: chat rooms created by AOL and chat rooms created by members.
Chats in both groups focus on a specific topic, such as health, hobbies, arts and entertainment, games, food, celebrities, geographical location, pets, politics, friendship, travel, and sports. Chat rooms created by members can be either private or public, and private chats require that you know the name of the chat room to participate. The process for viewing the People Connection room list and joining a public chat is as follows:.
Joining a private member chat is different. You can then type the private chat room's name to join an existing room or set up your own private room. AIM buddy chats are private chats between members using AOL's instant messaging service and require an invitation to participate. Designed for general conversation, buddy chats are useful for chatting with members who don't use AOL Desktop but have access to the AIM software.
Sponsored by AOL, Games. When you join a game, a chat box displays to the right and connects you with other people playing the same game. Some of the games featured on the website include arcade games, word games, puzzle games, casino games, and sports games.
When you first join a game, the site will ask you to sign up for a screen name or sign in with an existing one. Unlike the other types of AOL chat rooms, you can chat on this site using just your web browser. AOL has comprehensive guidelines that users need to follow to ensure a safe chat experience for all members and requires members to agree to these policies when creating a screen name. These rules focus on appropriate language, the distribution of content, and various types of illegal activities.
AOL's various language guidelines ban the use of language that could offend, threaten, take advantage of, or harass other members.
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