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"Me at the zoo" is the first video uploaded to YouTube, on April 23, 2005, 8:31:52 p.m. PDT, or April 24, 2005, at 03:31:52 UTC. The 19-second video features YouTube's co-founder
Jawed Karim Jawed Karim (বাংলাঃ জাওয়াদ করিম) (born October 28, 1979) is an American software engineer and Internet entrepreneur of Bangladeshi and German descent. He is a co-founder of YouTube and the first person to up ...
, who was 25 years old at the time, in front of two elephants at the
San Diego Zoo The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, housing 4000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on of Balboa Park leased from the City of San Diego. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a p ...
in California, noting their long trunks. Using Karim's camera, it was recorded by his high school friend, Yakov Lapitsky, a
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PhD student at the time, who was in San Diego to deliver his research to the
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.


Reception

The ''
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'' explained in 2009 that "as the first video uploaded to YouTube, it played a pivotal role in fundamentally altering how people consumed media and helped usher in a golden era of the 60-second video". ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' described its production quality as poor. ''
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'' called it a "nondescript affair" and "tongue-in-cheek" video that set "the tone for what was to come" on YouTube.


Legacy

Greg Jarboe describes the video's representation of an "ordinary moment" to be "extraordinary" for its time, demonstrating YouTube co-founder
Jawed Karim Jawed Karim (বাংলাঃ জাওয়াদ করিম) (born October 28, 1979) is an American software engineer and Internet entrepreneur of Bangladeshi and German descent. He is a co-founder of YouTube and the first person to up ...
's vision of what YouTube would become. According to Jarboe, "Me at the zoo" showed that YouTube was not simply about trying to "capture special moments on video" but rather trying to empower YouTube users "to become the broadcasters of tomorrow". This paved the way for YouTube to become the world's most popular online video-sharing community. Aaron Duplantier said that the ordinary "everydayness" and "dry aesthetics" of "Me at the zoo" set the tone for the type of original amateur content that would become typical of YouTube, especially among
YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...
s and
vlogger A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...
s. In addition to being the first video on YouTube, it has been described as the first YouTube vlog clip. ''
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'' ranked it the most important YouTube video of all time, stating: "It is representative of YouTube—it doesn't need to be this fancy production; it can be approachable. The first YouTube video is something anyone could create on their own." ''
The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...
'' also ranked it the most important video in YouTube history, stating "the thing is practically a historical artifact". ''
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'' listed it among the 20 most important
online videos Internet video (online video / cloud-based video) is the general field that deals with the transmission of digital video over the internet. Internet video exists in several formats, the most notable being MPEG-4i AVC, AVCHD, FLV, and MP3. Ther ...
of all time. On multiple occasions, Karim has used the video's description feed to criticize YouTube's business actions. In November 2013, in response to Google requiring YouTube users to use
Google+ Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus; sometimes called G+) was a social network owned and operated by Google. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challenge other social networks, linking other Google p ...
accounts to comment on videos, he updated the description to say "I can't comment here anymore, since i don't want a Google+ account". In November 2021, the video's description was changed in response to YouTube's decision to remove video dislikes from public view, reading: "When every YouTuber agrees that removing dislikes is a stupid idea, it probably is. Try again, YouTube ". A few days later, the description was changed again to a more detailed condemnation of YouTube's decision. In recent years, the video has been subjected to substantial levels of
spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ...
and is a black market for activities that violate YouTube's content policy; activity which in general has become more prolific over the years,https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/creators-blast-youtube-over-spam-bots-plaguing-comments-section-1731486/ various online vigilante groups such as the
Anti Bot Federation Anti may refer to: *Anti-, a prefix meaning "against" *Änti, or Antaeus, a half-giant in Greek and Berber mythology *A false reading of ''Nemty'', the name of the ferryman who carried Isis to Set's island in Egyptian mythology * Áńt’į, or ...
have attempted to tackle the spam.


See also

*
List of most-viewed YouTube videos YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. Although the most-viewed videos were initially viral videos, such as "Evolution of Dance" and "Charlie Bit My Finger", the most-viewed videos were increasin ...


References


External links

* {{Portal bar, California, Film, Internet 2005 in Internet culture 2005 short films 2005 YouTube videos Articles containing video clips 2000s English-language films Films about elephants Films set in San Diego Films set in zoos History of YouTube Internet memes introduced in 2005 San Diego Zoo Viral videos