How was YouTube born?

It was around 2005 when the internet came closer to the people. But it was not easy for one to share his thoughts, his interests, his writings, his photos or videos. Only the big websites like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft had the capacity to share the news, and other stuff. People were desperate to find new ways to build a platform through which they could share their memories and their thoughts with others. This led to the development of many social networking websites. But still there was no website that offered video sharing and video uploading.

YouTube on its first day

The idea of YouTube was born after Chad Hurley and Steve Chen experienced difficulty in sharing videos that had been shot at a dinner party at Chen's apartment in San Francisco. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim when they were working in Paypal.

First YouTube Video

A new website YouTube.com was activated on Valentine’s Day February 14, 2005. The first YouTube video titled Me at the zoo was uploaded on 23 April 2005 featuring co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo.

By December 2005 YouTube officially became a corporation. It’s first office was located above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. Over time the number of employees increased and the time had come to move.

Many companies like Yahoo, Google and Microsoft had their eyes on this booming website and were very keen in buying this site. But finally Google bought YouTube for $1.65bn on 13 November, 2006. At that time YouTube had just 65 employees. On the day the acquisition was announced YouTube moved into a former GAP office in San Bruno, California.

YouTube making video

Today YouTube is the world’s largest video destination and it is also one of the most viewed website. The site exceeds five billion views everyday and 400 hours of video are uploaded every single minute.