EOTO #1

 Instant Messages (IM)

    Instant Messaging has been around since 1990s, and establishes a direct connection between people, so they can telecommunicate in real time. Prior to this people communicated through landlines and pagers. Generally, IM is now referred to by the different apps a person could use to communicate with others. Popular ones could be Slack in the workplace, iMessage for day to day use, WhatsApp for messages abroad, and SnapChat among the younger generations. 

    Prior to Instant Messaging there was CTSS or Compatible Time Sharing System. The CTSS was created in 1961 at MIT. It was housed in a large mainframe that helped users connect via sending messages back and forth through remote dial-up terminals. This was first really only used by programmers, emergency communications, and computer chat rooms. 

    Aside from CTSS, another stride towards IM was made in 1969 at UCLA by Charley Kilne. He had attempted to send a text to the Stanford Research Institute over the ARPANET (internet before the internet).  He attempted to send the word "LOGIN" and after the "L" and the "O" went through the entire system crashed, making the internet's first ever message "LO". The second ever message was "LOGIN" about an hour later. 

    Chat rooms were also a part of the first interactions online, one of the programs people were able to use was created in 1971 by Murray Turoff and was called the Emergency Management Information Systems and Reference Index or otherwise known as Party Line. This was primarily used by the US Government to help manage crisis situations up until 1986. After that, another common program was Talkomatic of 1973 on PLATO. This was based at the University of Illinois, and allowed several channels were multiple users could access the same chat in real time and see characters appear in real time - in other words, the first real group chat. 

    IM really became something in 1997 when AOL Instant Messenger launched, this platform allowed registered users communicate in real time. After AIM took off, others companies created their own versions to compete. Two of these were in 1998, Yahoo! created the Yahoo! Pager as a messenger system, and Pidign started a similar one called Gaim. Microsoft launched MSN Messenger in 1999 which was later discontinued and replaced by what we know today as Skype. 

    In 2002 Apple got involved in the game with their first version of iMessage. The earliest ways of chatting online via Apple products was on the iChat for Mac OS X operating system, this was later followed by iMessage in 2011.

    Along the way there were many others that integrated this technology into their features which is what led to IM being the main form of communication among users. One app that really changed the game was WhatsApp (2009) because it put all of the different communication tools in one place, on a secure network, and a way you can communicate with people from different countries essentially for free. On WhatsApp you have the option to text, cal, facetime, update your status, post stories, etc. It's a huge platform with over 2 billion monthly users worldwide, with 596.6 million messages sent daily.  

    SnapChat was an app that entirely changed how we think of instant messaging, it's a platform for users to send photos with captions as their text message, of course with the option of regular chat settings as well. It was originally founded in July of 2011 as the app Picaboo by three Stanford students, Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy and relaunched in September of that same year as SnapChat. 

    They created an app where everything was "temporary" and lasted 24 hours unless saved by the users, which created an entirely new dynamic online. People were now able to not only say what they want but theoretically not have it come back in a few years time. Now it's one of the most used form of social media worldwide, with 360 million users monthly and 3 billion snaps sent daily. The numbers vary from WhatsApp because this is much more popular with the younger generations, the age range typically between 13 - 24 year olds. 

    The overall impact of IM has been exponential, and transformed how we as humans interact with each other daily. It solved our problems of inefficient and slow correspondence and has allowed us to make connections and real relationships with people in different cities, states, countries, and continents. It changed our daily form of communication from being reliant on a short message through a pager or waiting by the landline to make a call that costs money by the minute to an easier and cheaper way to connect. The only real negative effects of this I think are, how it gives people a false sense of confidence and anonymity behind a screen which allows the internet to not be the nicest place at times.