In case y’all weren’t aware, YouTube was officially launched back on 14th February 2005. The first ever video on the site was uploaded on 25th April 2005, titled “Me At The Zoo”.
The 18-second clip features a young man who shared his experience visiting animals at the zoo. Are you curious about the identity of the person who appeared on the first YouTube clip?
Many feel that it is a “must” for up-and-coming YouTubers to get to know Jawed Karim as he is one of the creators of this popular online video-sharing platform! Jawed, along with Steve Chen and Chad Hurley – all whom are former PayPal employees – co-founded the page in 2005. So what birthed the idea of developing the site?
According to the 40-year-old internet entrepreneur, the idea to launch the site started following pop star Janet Jackson’s infamous performance during the 2004 SuperBowl. At that time, it was difficult to search for the controversial video on the web. That’s where the trio came up with the brilliant idea of launching a site that enables users to share their videos in one platform.
However, Jawed is less popular compared to his co-founders Steve and Chad as he is not included in YouTube’s list of staff members. He had previously agreed to act as an advisor only because he wanted to focus on his studies at Stanford University. Due to his smaller role in the company, he held less shares compared to both his friends.
Despite that, it was reported that Jawed received USD64 million (~RM272.7 million) worth of shares after Google successfully acquired the company in 2006. Although he is less popular compared to Steve and Chad, Jawed is still recognised as the first person to appear on YouTube.
Interestingly, “Me At The Zoo” is the only video available on his account, with 98 million views. Word has it that he will only upload the next one once he reached 10 million amount of subscribers.
To date, Jawed’s channel has gained over 898k subscribers online.
Source: FMT.
