The first video on YouTube was uploaded 15 years ago, on April 23, 2005.
YouTube co-founder Jawed Karimposted an video titled “Me at the zoo.” It has since garnered over 90 million views and is still the only video uploaded to Karim’s channel.
If you click to play the video, you will see on screen Karim's face, at a young age, at the zoo, in front of the elephants.
“Okay”, Karim begins. “So, we are here, in front of the elephants. The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really long tusks”, he continues. “And that's cool”.
It is a very short and simple video. It has nothing to do with the videos of YouTubers of our days. Karim's video does not include any of the “traditional” elements, such as: “Subscribe to my channel!” or “Like, rate, comment”.
The video ends by simply saying: “And that’s all we need to say”. That was the first video on YouTube.
A year after “Me at the Zoo,” Karim and the co-founders of YouTube sold the platform to Google for $1.65 billion.
Today, YouTube has more than 2 billion connected users.
In recent years, YouTube has been associated with both positive and negative events.
Some of the negatives: Increase in videos containing “hate speech,” i.e. insults against specific groups of people (e.g. videos by prominent defenders of the white race), problems with certain YouTubers (e.g. PewDiePie, one of YouTube’s biggest stars who was accused of racism and anti-Semitism), etc.
Some of the positives: YouTube has helped to highlight various creators (e.g. Smosh, Miranda Sings, etc.), while it has launched YouTube Red, a streaming service with original TV shows and movies. Finally, it is used to highlight any content.
YouTube content is watched daily by billions of users.
And everything started with Karim, at the zoo!
