YouTube turns 20 years old today
Twenty years ago, three former PayPal employees launched YouTube.com, originally intended as a dating website with the slogan “Tune In, Hook Up.”
The co-founders—Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim—struggled to attract users, so they created YouTube’s first video themselves. The clip, titled “Me at the zoo,” featured Karim at the San Diego Zoo.
In doing so, they built a platform where anyone with an internet connection could upload and watch videos.
What did people do with this newfound power?
What they’re still doing today.
Flooding the internet with clips from Saturday Night Live—Like Lazy Sunday, one of the early viral videos.
Swiftly removed at NBC’s request but later restored on Youtube, the video highlighted a key tension in YouTube’s rise. For some, it was a chaos of copyright infringement; for others, a breakthrough in short-form video democracy. The following year, Google bought YouTube for more than $1.6 billion.
In October 2006, Karim shared with students at his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, what it all meant to him: “If you have a good idea, and you just go out there and you make a video, you can — you can get an audience of millions almost instantly for free,” he said.
Over the years, YouTube has faced controversies—over data collection, toxic content and radicalizing algorithms.
But “Me at the zoo” is still there, reminding viewers of a more innocent time. With 348 million views, it’s a far cry from the most-watched video.
If you clicked to listen above, our apologies, dear readers—we have “Baby Shark”
Roy Wood Jr. on his father, his son and his new book
Actor, comedian and writer Roy Wood Jr. is out with a new book -- The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir. He writes about his experience growing up in Birmingham, losing his dad as a teenager and all the lessons he learned from various father figures throughout his career.
Auburn fires coach Hugh Freeze following 12th loss in his last 15 SEC games
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues in three years on the Plains, scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong end of too many close matchups, including twice this season thanks partly to questionable calls.
In a ‘disheartening’ era, the nation’s former top mining regulator speaks out
Joe Pizarchik, who led the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 2009 to 2017, says Alabama’s move in the wake of a fatal 2024 home explosion increases risks to residents living atop “gassy” coal mines.
‘It’s like feeling the arms of your creator just wrapped around you’: a visit to a special healing Shabbat
Members of Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham gathered recently for their traditional Friday Shabbat service. But this particular service was different, as could be seen by all the people dressed in their finest pink.
Space Command is coming to Huntsville. What might that mean for first-time homebuyers
While Huntsville has been a more affordable market than other growing cities, what’s it been like for those looking for their first home?
Colorado says relocation of Space Command to Alabama is ‘punishment’ for mail-in voting
The litigation announced by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser asks a federal judge to block the move as unconstitutional.
