Instagram’s rollout of ‘notes’ feature sparks nostalgia for AIM

Millennials rejoiced after discovering that Instagram had seemingly reinvented the away message — a staple of 2000s internet culture.

FILE - The Instagram logo is seen on a cell phone, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. Instagram said it was working on an issue that left a seemingly large number of users locked out of their accounts Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. Some users reported seeing a message that they were locked out but were still able to scroll through their feeds. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, file) (Michael Dwyer, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, is dead — but the away message lives on, thanks to a recent Instagram update.

On Tuesday, the social media platform rolled out a series of updates, including the notes feature, which allows users to leave text or emoji updates in posts of up to 60 characters.

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Within hours of the platform unveiling the new features, social media users noticed Instagram notes’ similarity to the away messages of the early 2000s.

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