The Rise and Fall of Instant Messengers

 Technology  

Since the 1990's instant messaging technology has transformed the way people communicate.  In a new infographic, the timeline of IM is tracked, showing the progress of the communication revolution.

Instant messaging technology continues to change the way communicate even while many services have disappeared into the virtual history books.

Today, WhatsApp and Skype are dominating the instant messaging marketplace.  As the technology continues to advance, they will evolve and may be much different than today.

We take instant communication for granted today, but the advent of instant messaging changed the way people communicate.

Instant messaging was first developed in the 1990s. Though we take instant communication for granted today, the advent of instant messaging changed the way people communicate.

Prior to the Internet, phone calls from a land-line were the only instant form of communication available to most people. Calling outside your area, sometimes even to the next town over, would result in hefty long-distance fees, and the complications of setting up conversations with more than two participants was challenging.

Related articles Mars One - The Infographic  Will You Lose Your Job To A Robot?  Infographic - Are We Living In A Computer Simulation?

With the advent of the World Wide Web and instant messaging in the 1990s, suddenly anyone with an Internet connection could instantly chat with people around the world, for just the cost of their monthly Internet subscription.

Today, instant messaging has come a long way. Chat rooms and IM programs have given way to smartphone apps like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, or social media like Twitter to broadcast our instant messages for all to see. Along text, we can instantly share documents, videos, images, and don't forget emoticons. Free services Skype and Google Hangouts, we can move beyond instant messaging to real-time video conferencing, adding to modern instant communication abundance.

How did the revolution begin? Which companies achieved success and fame with IMing, and whatever happened to AIM and ICQ? Follow the timeline below to follow the rise and fall of those giants of instant messaging, and how they led the instant communication revolution.
The infographic below explores a timeline of how instant messenger services have evolved and adapted to new technologies since the first commercial  service was launched in 1996.





SOURCE  
The Rise And Fall Of Instant Messengers infographic
was created by the team at Quality Nonsense Ltd

By 33rd Square

Embed