The History of Youtube—so much has changed in just a few years!

I created my YouTube account in May 2006, according to the profile part of my YouTube channel, just a few months before it was purchased by the dreaded search engine.

Back then, I remember you can search for almost anything and you'll be able to find it in YouTube. I remember watching full episodes of shows like Invader Zim and even old cartoons like Rocko's Modern Life. I could share TV shows and cartoons that I loved to people just by linking them by embedding them in my old blog.

The "Back Dorm Boys"
I remember clearly that this is the first ever video I watched on YouTube, a bunch of chinese kids lip syncing to a Backstreet Boys song. Ironically, YouTube is now banned in China and their original video was taken off YouTube because of copyright infringement issues with Sony Music Entertainment.
This video opened the consciousness of so many to the concept of Web 2.0, of user-generated content, something that was flourishing at the time. Back then there was no Facebook or Twitter. No one was talking about "social media". It was very grassroots, compelling many kids and amateurs to make videos and giving them an opportunity to have a channel that can be watched by anyone in the world.


Just two years later, it was already influencing the US elections. Bo Bunrham sings, "Barrack Obama won because of YouTube". This song summarizes what YouTube has become in a humorous way. Of course I don't understand what he means in the end about YouTube being "privatized". YouTube has always been in the private sector, only when it was purchased by Google, of course they had to protect themselves from intellectual property rights issues and copyright stuff, I mean, I completely understand.
YouTube has given us a free global venue where we can speak our mind and share our random videos with family and friends. So much has changed in just a few years. The growth is just so exponential and it's just too much for me to comprehend when I try to think about it.

---

if you liked this post then you might also like:
1. HarryLeaks - my blog on politics and political philosophy

2. My Twitter - follow me to get updates on my latest blog posts and other things