ICQ is an instant messaging client, similar to AIM, MSN Messenger or Google Talk. ICQ is not really an acronym, the name is a play on the words, “I’m looking for you”, referring to the way ICQ can be used to find old or new friends and communicate with them.
ICQ is an innovative instant messaging program that was popular in the mid-1990s.
Instant messaging has been around in one form or another since the early 1970s. In this era, people connected to a mainframe computer, running a UNIX-like operating system, to work, post messages, or socialize. Instant messaging services on these older systems sometimes communicated directly between two people, and other times used a central server. Over time, this form of instant messaging became less popular, although certain forms, such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC), remained very popular until the advent of modern messaging and still have a large following.
Although it still exists today, ICQ is no longer the most popular instant messaging service.
America Online’s predecessor, Quantum Link, adopted its own form of instant messaging between users. And later, when America Online was born, America Online Instant Messaging was part of that service. This first AIM was not, strictly speaking, a graphical client, but it included many of the features that are known today.
ICQ usage has declined as text messaging has become more common.
In 1996, an Israeli company called Mirabilis launched its instant messaging product: ICQ. Mirabilis was funded primarily by one of the founder’s fathers, as well as other small investors. The company relied little on traditional marketing; rather, it depended on the viral effect, as customers told their friends about it and friends, in turn, told their friends.
ICQ and other messaging programs use various emoticons to convey simple emotions.
ICQ was an innovator in the field of instant messaging. It was the first instant messaging client to actually use a graphical user interface (GUI) and was easy for just about anyone to install and use. There was a time when ICQ was by far the dominant instant messaging client, and for many businesses during the dot-com years, it was the preferred mode of communication between them and their customers.
Instead of using unique screen identities chosen by the user, as used by AIM, or using the user’s email address, as used by MSN Messenger and Google Talk, ICQ created a unique identification number (UIN) for each user. This allows an ICQ user to change all of their account information (screen name, email address, real name, hometown) and still have the same primary ID. As UIN numbers increase sequentially as new users are added, in some circles the length of a person’s ICQ number is considered a sign of “street credit” online. A user with a five-digit UIN, for example, is obviously an early adopter, since he was one of the first 100,000 users. Five- and six-digit UINs are often seen for sale on eBay, allowing new ICQ users to purchase an older UIN.
In 1997, America Online launched its graphical instant messenger, AIM. In 1998, just two years after the creation of ICQ, America Online acquired the Mirabilis program for $407 million despite no revenue at all. This allowed America Online to have a virtual hegemony over instant messaging until Google Talk and MSN Messenger started to gain market share.
ICQ still exists and is still regularly updated. The client has been kept up to date with modern messaging standards and now has features such as smiley faces, multi-user chats, email support, SMS capability, and file transfers. Due in part to a fairly large problem with spam and aggressive marketing campaigns from AIM, Google Talk and MSN Messenger, all of which are also associated with very popular existing services, ICQ is no longer the dominant messaging client. Although it continues to survive, and perhaps innovate again, for now it remains in a state of relative dormancy.
ICQ was one of the first forms of online communication between friends.
