YouTube

 

The Rise of Youtube

    It's hard to think about Youtube then anything other than the media giant that they are today, but the now billion dollar company started off in a garage, like many others. The idea was born from within the garage of Chad Hurley, Youtube's first CEO. The journey started in 2004, with only a garage to work out the team of just three guys started working. Chad filed for the domain, logo, and trademark in 2005. The platform was originally intended to be a dating website where users could post videos of themselves and people would be able to like and comment on the people they liked. This effectively getting the other user to check out their profile and create traffic to hopefully find love. During the testing phase the users began to get bored of posting dating profiles and just started posting whatever they wanted, wether it just be them at a zoo (The first video on the beta of Youtube), a cat video, or some form of comedic home video. Once the Private beta for Youtube opened the world got its first look at the platform. It was buggy, a bit clunky, but it caught on fast, with large amount of positive feedback. The site was up in 2006, and later that year Google acquired the platform for 1.65 billion dollars. Through the years the platform would grow, putting ads on videos so people could monetize their content and putting some stricter rules on what could and could not be posted. In 2014 the CEO position was given to Susan Wojcicki, the very woman who told Google to buy Youtube back in 2005. In 2019 the media giant earned 19 billion dollars, and has over three billion users. Having grown up with the platform my entire life, I watched the platform shift into the media giant it is today. I still remember the original logo, a brown TV with a static screen. 

    So why is Youtube so important? It basically is the sole video sharing platform on the internet today with little to no competition. Youtube revolutionized how sharing videos on the internet was done. Usually it was put within a post on another site so your friends and family could watch it. The beauty of the new formula is that now it's not just friends, family, and those who follow you, now it's everyone on the platform. Another way is being able to monetize your content for profit, and making a living off of it. Being able to live comfortably while making videos within your own home was a fools dream a while back, now it is a reality for so many. Youtube also allows people to share their stories, their lives, and their hobbies with anyone in an interesting way. Each channel is its own place, with a community of thousands, and sometimes millions of people eagerly awaiting for the next video from their favorite creator. Youtube is quite possibly one of the most important platforms to come from the 2000s and its growth doesn't seem to be slowing. With advancements being made every day, the platform is built for longevity

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