YouTube’s former co-founder Jawed Karim posted the first video on the platform 15 years ago on Thursday.
Karim’s video came one year before Google bought out the company for a tidy sum.
Karim posted the short video, which he titled “Me at the zoo,” on April 23, 2005. The video has since garnered nearly 100 million views, placing itself in the record books as the then-new social media platform started its ascent into American culture.
“Alright,” Karim said into the camera as he motioned toward the elephant exhibit. “So here we are, in front of the elephants.”
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He added: “The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long, um, trunks,” he said before ending the 18-second clip. “And that’s, that’s cool.”
It has received more than 5 million comments during its lifespan, while the first comment on the video was one word: “Interesting.” It was subsequently deleted because it was regarded as spam, according to Fandom.
Google bought out YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. The platform has seen a lot of changes since that time, along with many controversies. (RELATED: YouTube Will Now Ding Content From White Supremacists As It Targets Hate Speech)
President Donald Trump and other Republicans say the company is suppressing conservative content, while many in the media worry the platform is not doing enough to limit the spread of misinformation and hate speech. All the while, the platform continues to rake in views as it boasts more than 2 billion logged-in user visits every month, according to YouTube.
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