Wednesday, September 20, 2023

The Evolution of Instant Messaging

      Instant messaging is a form of text based communication in which two people participate in a single conversation over their computers or mobile devices within an internet-based chat room. Instant messaging has grown into an essential part of communication in our society today. Not only for everyday life, but for specific things like business, school, and work, instant messaging is often utilized as a main way to communicate. The two goals that were in mind during the early stages of developing. These two goals were monitoring presence-based alerts to users in the chatroom and messaging. 

    The first stage of creating instant messaging began in the 1960’s. By the 1980’s, the system had reached a peak and began to spread rapidly as a modern form of communication. Throughout the developmental phases, there were two main platforms launched that were monumental for instant messaging. The first was the Compatible Time-Sharing System, or CTSS, which allowed users to connect up to 30 users to chat in real-time. The second was Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, which brought the first chance to chat with a group. The invention of IM in 1971 within a government computer network During this time, instant messaging also gained the support from the government in 1971 when it became a chat function on a government computer network.

    The first launch of a major online instant messaging platform to be used from your own personal media device was ‘America Online,’ or what you may know as AOL. They were the first platform to allow real time chat on a personal email account that could alert you when the people you were connected with were online. AOL led to the release of many other instant message services, which we now know would grow into arguably the most popular form of communication of their time. This included messaging platforms including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. These systems gave us Apple iChat and Skype. The evolution continued when iChat became iMessage, and iMessage inspired Instagram’s release of direct message and Facebook's release of Facebook messenger . These all came between the years 2010 and 2011. It is important to note that before Apple, there was BBM, also known as Blackberry. Blackberry gave us the first instant messenger on a mobile phone. This paved the way for things like iChat and iMessage. Some of the most revolutionary steps made to instant messaging in the late 2000’s were the start of ‘read’ and ‘delivered’ notifications. This brought instant messaging to a new level.     

    Overall, the start and the evolution of instant messaging is something that has been crucial in the way our societies communicates and has evolved over time. Instant messaging continues to evolve, with many new factors over the last five years. These include the introduction of new emoticon features, video and voice messaging capabilities, and AI chat services. The future of instant messaging will seemingly continue to grow and be able to do things we probably can’t even imagine right now. 


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