Instagram's rollout of 'notes' feature sparks nostalgia for AIM - NBC News

AOL Instant Messenger, oregon AIM, is dormant — but the distant connection lives on, acknowledgment to a caller Instagram update.

On Tuesday, the societal media level rolled retired a bid of updates, including the notes feature, which allows users to permission substance oregon emoji updates successful posts of up to 60 characters.

Within hours of the level unveiling the caller features, societal media users noticed Instagram notes' similarity to the distant messages of the aboriginal 2000s.

"Instagram has turned into who tin marque the champion AIM distant connection from 2006 connected this caller notes things and I’m present for it," vocalist Lou Miceli Jr. tweeted. "But virtually lone that, thing other you station connected it is dumb."

"Was not expecting instagram to reinvent AIM distant messages tbh," writer Ella Cerón tweeted.

Sports newsman Maddy Hudak wrote: "I’m atrocious did Instagram springiness america AIM distant messages lmao."

AIM was discontinued successful 2017 aft 20 years, but astatine its tallness successful the 2000s, the AIM distant connection was the astir ubiquitous mode to stock what was truly connected a person's mind, passive-aggressively respond to a feud oregon stock a lyric directed astatine a crush.

With the emergence of the Facebook presumption and aboriginal the Twitter tweet, societal media users had caller ways to stock what was connected their mind. But successful the 2020s, nostalgia for Y2K civilization has shaped overmuch of societal media and fashion, giving Instagram an accidental to seemingly reinvent the distant message.

"During testing, we learned that radical liked having a lightweight, casual mode to stock what’s connected their caput and commencement conversations," Instagram explained successful a blog post astir the caller feature. "From asking for recommendations to sharing what they’re up to, Notes springiness radical a casual and spontaneous mode to explicit themselves and link with each other."

The diagnostic volition look successful users' inboxes arsenic a left-to-right scroll supra their nonstop messages. The substance is displayed arsenic a abbreviated blurb implicit a user's avatar.

In summation to the notes feature, Instagram said it's investigating retired "candid stories," seemingly its instrumentality connected the BeReal app's candid-photo-sharing platform, arsenic good arsenic radical profiles, which volition let galore radical to collaborate and station connected the aforesaid account.

When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Meta, which owns Instagram, did not code the nostalgia for AIM.

They reiterated a akin connection to the blog announcement, stating that “Notes springiness radical a casual, spontaneous mode to explicit themselves and connect.”

People nonstop implicit 140 cardinal messages a time implicit Meta’s messaging apps, the spokesperson added.

On platforms similar Twitter, it was wide which caller diagnostic was a deed with millennials clinging to the nostalgia of their teenage years.

Some tweeted that it was present their accidental to station sappy pop-punk lyrics, which truthful often comprised the distant messages of emo millennials.

"Instagram truly brought backmost Away Messages and didn’t marque immoderate fuss astir it. About to occurrence up my mid-2000s emo playlist and starting stockpiling lyrics," sports writer Pete Blackburn tweeted.

Others pondered the ramifications of the AIM distant connection connected those who grew up with it.

"Instagram recreating distant messages has maine wondering if we were each connected AIM due to the fact that we were emo oregon were we emo due to the fact that we were each connected AIM," sports writer Peter Bukowski wrote.

Internet newsman Scott Nover celebrated some Instagram and the evident instrumentality of the distant connection successful a tweet.

"This is the archetypal bully diagnostic to travel to Instagram successful a decade," helium wrote. "We got distant messages, baby."