What Does This Mean?
[ PRESENCE MACHINES ][ MACHINE CULTURE ]
A customizable text status displayed on AIM when a user stepped away from their computer, functioning as an early form of asynchronous personal broadcasting and one of the first machine-mediated presence states.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
"Her away message was just song lyrics that somehow meant something to everyone reading it."
LORE & ORIGIN
Built into AOL Instant Messenger from its 1997 launch, the away message became a genuine form of personal expression, with users writing lyrics, moods, or inside jokes into what was ostensibly just an "I'm not here" notice.
FIRST SEEN
1997
PEAK ERA (EDITORIAL)
Not established
CURRENT STATUS
Legacy / Decaying Slang
Related To:Status MessageBuddy List
EQUIVALENT CONCEPTS IN OTHER LANGUAGES
AURA IMPACT ⓘ
+1 AURA
TREND STATUS
↓ FADING
EDITORIAL ESTIMATE
CULTURE CATEGORY
[ PRESENCE MACHINES ][ MACHINE CULTURE ]
RELATED TERMS
MENTIONS OVER TIME
DOCUMENTED SINCE
1997
NOW
Radar observation data not yet available for this term.
RELATED SEARCHES
TOP PLATFORMS
Not enough Radar data yet to show a platform breakdown.
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