Nineteen years ago, on April 24, 2005, a new era in video sharing began with the first-ever video uploaded to YouTube. Jawed Karim, one of the platform’s co-founders, posted the 19-second clip titled “Me at the zoo”. The video, featuring Karim in front of an elephant exhibit at the San Diego Zoo, has garnered over 317 million views to date. The genesis of YouTube can be traced back to February 14, 2005, when its domain name was registered by Karim, Steve Chen, and Chad Hurley, three former PayPal employees. Their initial concept was a dating website, but they soon realized the potential for a platform where users could share their home videos. A month prior to its official launch in May 2005, the first video graced the YouTube platform. YouTube’s popularity soared in the years that followed, becoming a social media powerhouse for sharing videos. Just over a year after its launch, Google acquired the platform. Today, YouTube is headquartered in San Bruno, California, and remains one of the most popular online platforms, especially among teenagers. A recent Pew Research report surveyed over 1,400 13- to 17-year-olds, revealing that nearly one in five uses YouTube almost constantly, while over 30% visit the platform several times a day.
YouTube’s Genesis: The First Video Uploaded 19 Years Ago
