Watch The First Video Ever Uploaded To YouTube

Don’t worry, it’s only 18 seconds long

Watch The First Video Ever Uploaded To YouTube

by Phoebe Parke |
Published on

13 years ago the first EVER video was uploaded to YouTube.

The site's co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded an 18 second clip titled ‘Me at the zoo’ and changed the game for content creators around the world.

The video itself is not particularly life-altering, though.

‘So here we are in front of the elephants,’ Karim says awkwardly as a goat bleats loudly in the background and the elephants behind pay him no mind.

‘Cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long... trunks," he jokes. ‘That's cool. And that's pretty much all there is to say.’

WOW. And with that, history was made.

Karim looks very young in the video, but he’s 39 now, so was actually 26 when he uploaded ‘Me at the zoo’, which has had over 47 million views so far.

The internet entrepreneur used to work at PayPal before starting YouTube, and was one of the first investors in Airbnb, so basically he knows when something is going to be a big deal on the internet and gets in there early. He co-founded YouTube with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen who are also former PayPal employees.

READ MORE: Zoella's Wardrobe According To Her YouTube

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Debrief Zoella's Wardrobe According To Her YouTube

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CREDIT: Zoella/YouTube

Zoella Wardrobe Tour

Zoella may have a 37 fashion and beauty dedicated videos, but not one made it into her top 10 most viewed. For the sake of research I watched a few. I learnt she likes to speak slowly about what she ordered online from ASOS and Pull & Bear. If a haul video gets your juice's flowing watch away but beware these clips are filled with product placements.

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CREDIT: Zoella/YouTube

Zoella Has ‘Instagram Clothes’

Thumbing through Zoella's Instagram I was convinced she was a hipster. Between the flat whites and graffiti pics are denim-on-denim selfies, pensive shots of her wearing wire-frame reading glasses and semi-ironic slogan tops. However, this could not be further from her Youtube look. Like miles and miles away. Like a galaxy away.

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CREDIT: Zoella/YouTube

11-Year-Old Zoella Took More Sartorial Risks That Grown-Up Zoella

According to her fifth most viewed video, Zoella actually started recording the everyday aspects of her day-to-day existence at just 11-years-old. To celebrate a subscriber milestone Miss Sugg let us thirsty viewers see what tween Zoella packed for a family holiday. One thing is ludicrously clear: pre-teen Zoe is far edgier. Between the on-trend hair slides, collection of chokers and spaghetti strap tops, this young girl could outpace grown-up Zoella in the style stakes.

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CREDIT: Zoella/YouTube

Zoella’s Most Inspired Outfits Use Print Like A Weapon

It's a rare day when this blogger breaks out of her twee stripes or plain-top-and-jeans uniform, but when she does it makes a nuclear impact. Take this camouflage top for instance or that eighties-twinged sweater - it's so unexpected it has me sitting up straighter and listening a little closer.

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CREDIT: Zoella/YouTube

Zoella Loves Basics

Zoella is so chirpy and 'normal' she gets accused of being 'basic'. Naturally, the fact that she loves a plain coloured t-shirt should come as no surprise nor the fact that she rarely accessorises beyond a Michael Kors watch. Very relatable.

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CREDIT: Zoella/YouTube

Make-Up Is Her Crutch

Zoella lives her life on screen and even though her income may have skyrocketed in the last decade her wardrobe has remained very grounded. She likes clothes from the brands we like to shop from - Topshop, H&M and ASOS. While she's not jettisoned herself onto the red carpet or other starry walks of life she does one thing very differently from the rest of us: she sits around her bedroom all day in a face of stage make-up. Zoella is rarely seen without foundation, blusher, bronzer, fake lashes and a triptych of eyeshadow shades.

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CREDIT: Zoella/YouTube

Zoella Loves A Peter Pan Collar

There's something passively cute about a Peter Pan collar that makes me think of school children. It's disarming in its lack of pretension and just fashionable enough, which means Zoella can once again parlay visually to the crowd that she is normal, she is relatable, she is accessible.

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CREDIT: Zoella/YouTube

She Isn’t Precious Or Precocious

Zoella's funny 'helllooooo' and affable giggle didn't shock me, but her language did. She's 28 and she uses words like 'poopey' and 'willy', she talks like a pre-teen unsure of how rude they can be. But, this childish persona allows her to be zany. She throws cream pies, gets mucky like a clown and it's adorable. Yeah, I enjoyed the fact she had attractive G-Plan furniture and lights Dyptique candles with abandon, but I continued watching for her PG kookiness.

People on Twitter were more than a little bemused while watching the 13-year-old video on the anniversary of it being uploaded, April 23 2005.

One user thinks Karim’s reference to trunks was actually a euphemism.

Another user thinks Karim is missing a trick by not monetising the video by having ads paly before it. He could've made a LOAD of money by now.

Since the first ever upload we’ve seen the good, bad and downright stupid when it comes to the platform.

The good? Some inspiring TED talks, excellent free documentaries and the perfect films to watch when you’re hungover.

But there’s also the bad; remember the 22-year-old who died after being shot by his girlfriend in a YouTube stunt? And the stupid decisions made by YouTubers like Logan Paul, who filmed a dead body and posted it to his 15 million subscribers.

13 years on, could Karim who posted his innocent zoo visit ever have imagined a world where people who uploaded content to his site were so influential? He’s only ever uploaded one video to his channel which has over 280,000 subscribers, but he has been vocal about the changes Google made to YouTube (he sold to Google in 2006 for about $1.65 billion with his co-founders), mostly the fact that you need to have a Google+ account to comment on videos, see he’s just like us.

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Follow Phoebe on Twitter @PhoebeParke

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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