YouTube is both a career planner and an entertainer for you. It lets you personalize videos as per your choice and interest. Do you know that over a billion hours of videos are being watched every day? Out of which, 70% are watched from Android and iOS devices. This fact revolves around the theory of why is YouTube called YouTube.
Years back 2005 in May; a video clip of 18 seconds was uploaded. Jawed Karim who is one of YouTube’s founders shot and shared this video clip. The other two founders Ched Hurley and Steve Chen were colleagues with Karim in an E-commerce company PayPal.
Why Is It Called YouTube?
The meaning of YouTube is as straight as a line. Here, ‘You’ refers to the content created by the user itself only, and ‘Tube’ refers to the term used in the 90s for the television with cathode rays.
As it mostly happens, controversy over its name also occurred. Soon after they registered, a company named Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment whose URL was utube.com sounded phonetically the same as YouTube. For this reason, the former filed a case against YouTube for its URL. Nonetheless, YouTube altered its URL to utubeonline.com eventually.
How Did The Idea Popup?
The inspiration to create YouTube came from one of the incidents when Karim found it difficult to get a video of Janet Jackson’s “Wardrobe Malfunction.” Another incident is when Hurley and Chen could not share a video of a dinner party attended in San Francisco.
“Video, we felt, really wasn’t being addressed on the Internet,” said Hurley, “People were collecting video clips on their cell phones…but there was no easy way to share.”
In February 2005 on the day of Valentine, Ched, Steve, and Karim founded YouTube. Initially, the idea was to create a video dating site, which later changed to develop a platform where people could watch, find, and share videos purely created by them.
First-Ever Video on YouTube
As mentioned above, the first-ever video titled “Me at the Zoo” was uploaded by Karim that has about 166 million views till date.
However, the first video that hit 1 million views was an ad sponsored by Nike featuring Brazilian football player Ronaldinho.
Similarly, in 2012, Ganagam style became the first-ever video to hit one billion views on YouTube.
Features Added-History
The initial years were pivotal in making YouTube a part of everyone’s life. In the later years added its worth to be a useful tool for everyone.
In 2005
In its foundation year, YouTube added several features such as a playlist, ‘Fullscreen’, and ‘Subscription’ on the site.
By the end of this year, YouTube received an investment from Sequoia Capital in millions, after which it introduced its beta version as a thanks part to the users and creators.
In 2006
Before a month of its first anniversary in January, YouTube added the feature ‘Groups’. In the following month (February), YouTube tailored by adding a feature ‘User Profile’.
Thereafter in March, the video stretched to ten minutes. In May, users could respond to a video. However, no history record is available until now. It was added in June and a content verification program was set up to prevent copyright issues.
The month of October, bring luck to YouTube when Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion with just 65 employees working at that time. Google saw it as the “next step in the evolution of the internet.”
In 2007
YouTube senses its worth and the worth of its content creators. Thereby, it introduced a Partner’s Program under which the YouTubers can make money. This is how; it became a career-oriented platform for creative users to get the advantage of their hobbies.
The best example of this initiative is when a baby’s video named Charlie (less than one minute) went viral on YouTube. With this video only, the baby made $1 million.
YouTube is worth anything and so in June; it eliminates the language barrier making all languages accessible. In July, it came up with something new letting CNN host a presidential debate.
In 2008
From this year, YouTube made video analytics accessible by adding the Analytics feature. It also started supporting videos of 480p.
By the end of the year, Audioswap is added to the platform with which creators could add music to their videos from a library of licensed songs.
In 2009
This year, the U.S. Congress launched its official channel on YouTube eventually enhancing its credibility. Following this, the Vatican also launched a YouTube channel.
The year put in stars to its working space. It won a Peabody Award in E-media and brought in music video service VEVO. What’s more, a resolution of 1080p and speech recognition service is now accessible on the site.
In 2010
YouTube didn’t want to limit itself to just uploading content. Hence, it introduced a rental service for its users. Now, users can rent a movie which in turn competes directly with the existing giants like Netflix and Apple.
The exposure of “Arab Spring” gave it a new identity in E-media. For Activists, it became a bridge to connect the rest of the Muslim world in support of the movement.
In 2011
While everything on the internet was upgrading rapidly, YouTube didn’t want to lag behind. So, the live streaming feature is made accessible to its users/content creators. As a result, several live streams of concerts, conferences, matches, and more are seen.
2012
This year, YouTube finally merged with Google Video. The First Olympics live stream and later a live ABC presidential debate became crucial steps in its usability.
2015
YouTube Red was introduced on the platform, and users could enjoy ad-free service.
2016
Earlier this year, YouTube substituted YouTube Red with the general subscription model. It makes it easy and affordable for users.
2019
The year added the “two ads “feature of which one can be skipped whereas another cannot. With this feature, YouTubers got another opportunity to make money by letting ads appear on their channel.
Conclusion
Nonetheless, YouTube kept introducing features year after year. Even now, YouTube is maintaining its image. How do you see YouTube? Let us know in the comment box.
