IT HAS BEEN ten years since YouTube arrived on the scene and revolutionised the way we consume video.
The website was registered in February 2005, but it wasn’t until April 23 that the first video appeared, entitled ‘Me at the zoo’.
In it, a man (co-founder Jawed Karim) at the zoo (San Diego Zoo) gives us a fascinating insight into the lives of elephants (they have trunks):
The first comment was notably civil – a user posted to say they found it “interesting”.
The idea for YouTube first popped into the head of one of its founders after they found it difficult to find a video of Janet Jackson’s infamous Super Bowl nipslip.
Since then, the website has grown dramatically.
It now has 1 billion users, and 300 hours of footage is uploaded every minute.
It was bought by Google in 2006. The tech giant dumped its own rival, Google Video, which had been knocking around before YouTube arrived.
YouTube role in the new media environment is obvious – many channels have a higher viewership than some TV channels, and YouTube Stars are becoming celebrities in their own right making a handsome income from a combination of ad revenue and sponsorships.
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