If you want to view a video, you’re probably going to YouTube. Movies, trailers, live streams, vlogs, music videos, news, and much more may be found there. YouTube has become associated with video viewing and sharing, generating billions of dollars in income for its owners, Google. Of course, none of YouTube’s three creators could have imagined its current success. So, let’s take a look at YouTube’s beginnings and watch the first YouTube video.
When Did YouTube Start?
On February 14, 2005, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim started YouTube. The trio met while working at PayPal, a firm that was acquired by eBay and went on to become a success. The Super Bowl scandal, when Janet Jackson’s breast was revealed and Karim couldn’t find the tape online, is said to have sparked the concept of YouTube as a video sharing site. YouTube was originally conceived as an online dating site, according to Hurley and Chen. They used Craigslist to offer women $100 in return for uploading videos of themselves on YouTube. They couldn’t acquire enough videos, so they changed YouTube’s policy to allow any video.
The site went live in public beta in May 2005. By November, a Nike commercial starring Ronaldinho had surpassed one million views. The site officially debuted in December 2005, with eight million daily visitors at the time. Every day, more than 65,000 films were posted by July 2006. Although YouTube wasn’t the first video sharing website (Vimeo debuted in November 2004), it was the first to promote simple uploading and sharing. Viral comedy videos from indigenous talent Smosh and unlicensed downloads of Saturday Night Live’s The Lonely Island bolstered its appeal. Google bought YouTube in November 2006 for $1.65 billion in YouTube shares. YouTube has evolved dramatically since then, with many new interfaces, support for higher-resolution videos, management changes, revenue pushes, and more. However, the YouTube of today is similar to the one of 2005 in certain aspects. The basic framework hasn’t been altered. Anyone may create a channel, comment on other people’s videos, and share them with their friends.
What Was the First YouTube Video?
The first YouTube video, “Me at the Zoo,” was published by co-founder Jared Karim when he was 25 years old on April 23, 2005. Karim is seen in front of four elephants at the San Diego Zoo, commenting on how impressive their long trunks are in a video that lasts less than 20 seconds. The video has received over 218 million views and is Karim’s lone video on YouTube. “Me at the Zoo” isn’t very noteworthy—low-resolution it’s and asserts the obvious about elephants—but it set the tone for the amateurish and insignificant uploads that characterized YouTube’s early years.
It was a moment when amateurs, rather than companies or influencers seeking financial gain, utilized the platform to express themselves, driven only by a desire to create and share. Over the years, Karim has changed the video’s caption to include a reference to Google. In November 2013, in reaction to YouTube’s merger with Google+, the description stated, “I can’t comment here anymore, as I don’t want a Google+ account.” It also highlighted why YouTube suppressing the dislike count is detrimental in November 2021.
What’s Next for YouTube?
Every day, billions of people access YouTube, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. Given that no other video-sharing network has ever come close to challenging YouTube’s supremacy, it’s likely to remain so for a long time. Other video sites (Vimeo included!) do exist, and some people believe them to be superior to YouTube due to their loosened content restrictions or community focus.
