Five Things We Will Miss about Yahoo Messenger

Five Things We Will Miss about Yahoo Messenger

This was how Yahoo Messenger looked like back in the day.

It’s an end of an era guys

It’s official guys: Yahoo Messenger will officially close its doors by July 17. The 20-year old messaging service paved the way for modern messaging apps like Viber, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. As it lost its popularity in recent years, it was time to say adios to Yahoo Messenger—for good.

While you can still download copies of your messages six months after the messaging service shuts down, Yahoo Messenger was a source of fond memories during its heyday back in the early and mid-2000s.

The final iteration of Yahoo messenger. This one is the iOS version).

For nostalgia’s sake, we’ve asked around the millennials (the author included) about their fond memories of Yahoo Messenger:

 

Regrettable usernames

Admit it: There was that point in your life you had an extra fancy (or sometimes extra weird) username as your Yahoo Messenger ID. These user IDs could have various references ranging from video games to indirect ways of describing who you are. The author’s Yahoo Messenger ID referenced the first initials of himself and a girl he liked a lot. unfortunately, they are not together to this day.

 

Invisible mode

Before there was the “seenzone”, there was an “invisible” mode which allowed you to go online without showing others that you were, in fact, online. Yahoo Messenger users found this feature essential, as it allowed them to avoid certain people and/or helped them check out the status message of their crush without being noticed.

 

Buzz! Buzz!

An equivalent of Facebook’s poke (and now wave), the buzz feature was Yahoo Messenger’s way of calling the attention of someone we are talking to in the messaging app. The reasons may vary: either you want to be noticed, or you are trying to catch someone who is in invisible mode. Just like the poke, the buzz feature was annoying especially when it was done in succession.

 

Playing around with status messages

Speaking of status messages, Yahoo Messenger introduced us to the beauty of playing whatever is on your mind as a status message. It can range from either the music that you were playing to an indirect message to someone you like or hate. Think of it as a sane version of all the ranting we see on Facebook and Twitter these days.

From what we remember, there was no particular character limit for the status messages, but short status messages were the most attention-seeking ones back in the day.

 

An (affordable) avenue for flirting

One of the popular uses of Yahoo Messenger back in its heyday is that it was an alternative to texting and calling your special someone. Back in the early and mid-2000s, calls and texts were pretty expensive, so Yahoo Messenger became a cheaper alternative for those hour-long conversations with a special someone. That being said, Yahoo Messenger became the cause for relationships, breakups, and marriages for a lucky few.

 

What was your fond memory of Yahoo Messenger? Share it at the comments section below!

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