The 19-second video has frequently been posted on social media to demonstrate how YouTube got started. This time, the video-sharing site joined in on the nostalgia, posting the video to its Instagram account with the message, "If you think about it, it all started with a Short #YouTubeFactsFest."
YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded the first video to YouTube seventeen years ago, creating a service that has since developed into one of the world's most popular video-sharing platforms. The video, which has left netizens both surprised and nostalgic, has now been published by YouTube India's official Instagram account.
"If you think about it, it all started with a Short," YouTube India captioned the video published on Instagram with the hashtag #YouTubeFactsFest and a smiley face emoticon. Jawed Karim vlogs in front of an elephant exhibit at the San Diego Zoo, pointing out exceptionally large elephant trunks. "Would you believe us if we told you this is the first video ever posted to YouTube?" asks the video's text.
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The video was published on Instagram two days ago and has already gotten 1.69 lakh views and a cascade of comments. Since its premiere 17 years ago, the video has received over 230 million views and 12 million likes. It has received almost 10 million comments.
The 19-second video has frequently been posted on social media to demonstrate how YouTube got started. This time, the video-sharing site joined in on the nostalgia, posting the video to its Instagram account with the message, "If you think about it, it all started with a Short #YouTubeFactsFest." The site also mentioned YouTube Shorts in the title, which is limited to creating and sharing videos of 60 seconds or less in duration.
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While some reflected on how much YouTube had progressed since the original video, others were astounded to watch the footage, which they said signalled the beginning of vlogging. "Damn! I looked it up, and it's correct "A user added a remark. "This YouTube altered so many people's lives," commented another.
On February 14, 2005, YouTube was officially launched. After Google, the online video sharing platform is the second most frequented website.
According to the website, YouTube has over 2.5 billion monthly users who view more than one billion hours of video each day.
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