Internet Chat Rooms
Today we text and tweet with impunity, but in the '90s, text-based real-time computer communication (in the form of chat rooms or instant messaging) was new technology for most people. Internet chat rooms had been developed as early as 1980 by Compuserv, and users of internet bulletin board servers could engage in a form of nearly real-time chat once instant messaging spread to the masses in 1997. That's when America Online opened up its AOL Instant Messenger program to everyone — whether they were AOL subscribers or not.
Thus did the terms "buddy list," "IM me!" and "away message" enter the American lexicon. Late '90s instant messaging users could scarcely imagine that they'd be able to accomplish the same thing today from their smartphones, but the ubiquity of real-time communications in the '90s certainly paved the way for our current comfort with perpetual internet contact. No matter where you are, all your friends are only a Facebook update away.
Advertisement
Related Articles
Sources
- Allmusic/Billboard. "Open Up and Say...Ahh!" Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.allmusic.com/album/open-up-and-sayahh-r15492/charts-awards
- Billboard. "The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs (10-01)." Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.billboard.com/specials/hot100/charts/top100-titles-10.shtml
- Hallcrest Color Change technology. "Thermochromic Leuco Dyes." Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.colorchange.com/leuco-dyes
- Jones, Steve. "Can rap regain its crown?" USAToday. June 15, 2007. Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-06-14-rap-decline_N.htm
- Koppel, Niko. "Are Your Jeans Sagging? Go Directly to Jail." The New York Times. Aug. 30, 2007. Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/fashion/30baggy.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1327050904-7ol2EtB0oTaUVDnHCh9ntQ
- Spindler, Amy M. "A Death Tarnishes Fashion's 'Heroin Look'." The New York Times. May 20, 1997. Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/20/style/a-death-tarnishes-fashion-s-heroin-look.html?pagewanted=all
UP NEXT
Has Guinness World Records Set Any World Records?
Guinness World Records is known for compiling thousands of records set by others. But does it hold any records of its own? HowStuffWorks finds out.
