YouTube turns 10: How it changed the world

THE first video to be uploaded onto YouTube was put up 10 years ago today. Since then, the platform has changed everything.

In this photo taken on Sept. 14, 2012, South Korean rapper PSY performs his massive K-pop hit 'Gangnam Style' live on NBC's '...

JUST over ten years ago, three friends came up with the idea for a website to host homemade videos on the internet. On April 23 2005, it went live with the first ever video posted about a guy at a zoo.

Not exactly Oscar winning material, but its significance is more than most Oscar winning films.

Ten years since that video was uploaded, YouTube has turned into the most-watched video platform on the planet. 300 hours of new video content is uploaded every minute and over a billion people across the world use the service every month to consume videos. Google was clever enough to see the site’s potential and paid $USD1.65 million for it back in 2006.

The most watched video is the music video for Gangnam Style by Psy which has been viewed over 2 billion times, while the most watched non music video is about a boy biting his brother’s finger called ‘Charlie bit my finger’.

The platform has turned people who are filming from their bedroom into millionaires. Some from making funny videos, others from reviewing products, but perhaps the most bizarre millionaire is a toy-unboxer. She’s in fact, not only a millionaire, but has made more money from YouTube than any other user.

It’s been estimated that she earned more than $7 million last year alone. Just from posting videos of her unboxing toys.

Videos like a woman unboxing toys, or kids biting each others fingers or people’s video blogs have now become content that families will sit around the TV and watch together, with more variety and choice to watch whenever you want than traditional TV channels. It’s this type of viewing that has helped inspire the likes of Netflix and Foxtel’s Presto to deliver content whenever people want, rather than broadcast on a traditional TV schedule.

While it may seem like people just use YouTube to watch cat videos and Taylor Swift shaking it off, YouTube has given an avenue for those to create and show off content they didn’t previously have. Not just for entertainment value, but it has helped promote democracy and make learning exciting and entertaining.

Stars of today like Justin Bieber owe their careers to YouTube. The pop-singer was discovered online after his mother posted a video of him singing at a talent contest and three years later was selling out the world’s biggest venues.

It’s not just pop-stars who have used YouTube to influence either, but those with political motivation have taken full advantage of what it can deliver, for both good and bad. In August last year, Islamic State militants beheaded US journalist James Foley and posted the footage for the world to see online. It was the first of a new age of terror and propaganda, where those who wanted to could instil fear across the other side of the world without even leaving their computer.

Outside of propaganda and Justin Bieber though, YouTube helped change things in a way most people don’t realise. It turned advertising into entertainment.

Videos like Volvo Trucks’ famous split clip with Jean-Claude van Damme has racked up over 70 million views and became a viral sensation. Never before has advertising if done correctly been able to been able to be consumed like this.

Similar ads like Beats’ LeBron James video from October last year have not only become viral for the brand, but help explode the music featured on it. The track used in that video, Take Me To Church by Hozier has since become a worldwide sensation.

So after 10 years since Jawed went to the zoo, YouTube has been the unassuming platform that changed the world forever.