YouTube was launched today 17 years ago with this video

On Sunday 17 years ago, a 25-year-old guy named Javed Karim uploaded his first video to YouTube, launching a service that has become a major hub for streaming video and gives everyone who has a camera both a good chance to make a living with their own content.

The first video was, I must say, nothing to write about. The 19-second clip in low resolution (below) is called I’m at the zooYouTube co-founder Karim of the San Diego Zoo helpfully noted that elephants have extremely long trunks.

As with most of the videos that appeared on the streaming site in those early days, the clip lacks the sharp touches that are so strongly present in much of the content that fills the platform today.

“Okay, here we are in front of the elephants,” says Karim on camera for the first ever YouTube video. “The interesting thing about these guys is that they have very, very, very long barrels, and that’s cool, and that’s almost all there is to say.”

Of course, when he recorded and uploaded the clip, Karim knew that YouTube would become the phenomenon it is today. And not that his video will garner hundreds of millions of views in the years to come.

A month after Karim’s video appeared on the site in April 2005, YouTube launched a public beta of the service before its official launch in November of that year. Around the same time, Karim left YouTube to study for a master’s degree in computer science at Stanford University, but received tens of millions in shares when Google acquired YouTube for $ 1.65 billion in 2006. Karim co-founded a venture fund called Youniversity Ventures (now YVentures), among those who benefit from investments from Airbnb and Reddit.

The creator of the first YouTube video from time to time edits the description of the clip to express his opinion when the company changes the platform, which he does not like. Last year, for example, Karim criticized YouTube removal of public hostility.

As of April 2022, the elephant clip has been viewed more than 228 million times and received more than 11 million comments. A recent friend said, “Let’s be honest, someday we’ll all show our kids this video.”

Editorial recommendations