Through its adolescent and teenage years, the California-based company has gone on to provide entertainment to billions of viewers -- not to mention giving millions more a career path.
“Alright, so here we are in front of the elephants. The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks, and that’s cool… and that’s pretty much all there is to say.”
From there, the limits of the platform were tested and pushed.
Although Jawed's video is nowhere near the quality of some of the content produced now, as YouTube has begun offering feature-length films and series to their Premium subscribers (most recently giving birth to the Cobra Kai series, which has now been adopted by Netflix), it's a cultural relic of the platform.
But, even with 255 million views, Jawed's video is considered only semi-viral by today's standards. Contemporary classics like Gangnam Style set a new standard for true virality -- being the first video to ever reach 1 billion views. Since then, numerous videos have reached the billion mark.
And today, in 2023, the most-viewed video is one you've likely heard at least once (or 100 times if you have kids) -- Baby Shark, with 12 billion views.
Over the last 18 years, since its inception on Valentine's Day, YouTube has been a labour of love for its creators, owners, and partners alike. And as it enters adulthood, it's exciting to see what's next.
When asked about the serendipitous nature of YouTube being founded on Valentine's day, Jawed had this to say:
"That's one of those things about being a computer science major: Valentine's Day is just another day."
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