AOL announced Friday that it is discontinuing its pioneering Instant Messenger chat platform after 20 years of service. An article on AOL’s website posted Friday says AOL Instant Messenger will be discontinued on Dec. 15. In a blog post , a spokesman for AOL’s parent company explained the platform’s demise as the casualty of the evolving way people communicate. “AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed,” wrote Michael Albers, vice president of communications at Oath. The program will still function until Dec.