The domain name “YouTube.com” was activated on Feb. 15, 2005:
The video-sharing site, founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, has, in half-a-dozen years, become one of the most-visited websites worldwide, trailing only Facebook, Google (YouTube’s parent company) and Google’s Gmail.
With its slogan “Broadcast yourself” sounding a clarion call to exhibitionists the world over, YouTube was an instant hit, encouraging individuals to submit not only their personal videos but movie and TV clips, and music videos as well.
Its success also attracted the attention of Google, which shelled out $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube in 2006, less than two years after the company was founded.
The first video was uploaded on April 23. Among the first viral videos, the Dormitory Boys:
More than 35 hours of video per minute is uploaded to the site. To gauge its impact on our culture, check out GREG RUTTER’S DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE 99 THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY EXPERIENCED ON THE INTERNET UNLESS YOU’RE A LOSER OR OLD OR SOMETHING. YouTube provides the lion’s share of the linked content.
Also today in YouTube news, ad-linked video views have jumped to over 3 billion per week, a 50 percent increase from May. Analysts estimate that YouTube reached profitability last year.