So how did YouTube start?

YouTube was created on February 14, 2005 when three former PayPal employees started the Internet name "YouTube.com" and began to create a video-sharing website on which users could upload, share, and view videos.

YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were all early employees of PayPal. Before working with PayPal, Hurley studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

YouTube's initial headquarters were located above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California.

The first ever YouTube video titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23, 2005, and can still be viewed on the site with the first ever YouTube comment.

During the summer of 2006, YouTube was one of the fastest growing sites on the Web, uploading more than 65,000 new videos and delivering 100 million video views per day in July. It was announced that the company would be purchased on October 9, 2006 by Google for US$1.65 billion.

In January 2012, YouTube stated that the figure had increased to four billion videos streamed per day. I think that the more time progresses the higher the view numbers on YouTube videos will increase.

 For me this website is far different than any other social network. Myspace, Facebook and Twitter all have the same qualities, sharing posts, pictures and  messages between the world. Unlike the others, YouTube doesn't have any other site like it, it's one of a kind and hasn't faded away from the public in over 7 years. YouTube has kept its popularity growing instead of fading over the past years and i strongly believe it will continue this way. 

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube

Making Money Off Youtube

Have you ever wondered how much money YouTubers were making? Youtube has made it possible for people to work in the comfort of their home while earning a fairly large amount of profits.

YouTubers who have posted viral videos like “Harlem Shake” and “Gangnam Style", are earning up to millions of dollars all because of the large amount views they are receiving.

In 2010, the most popular YouTube partners were making more than $100,000 a year. As of 2013, some of these video creators including The Annoying Orange and Jenna Marbles were making millions of dollars, while others like Ryan Higa and Ray William Johnson went further into the $100,000 range. Today, stars like Psy, whose channel has received up to 2.13 billion views an estimated $5.9 million in profits, can earn even more. 

YouTube also gives its partners earnings for publishing advertisements on their videos. The types of ads they use in their videos may also affect in how much money they earn. Pre-roll ads, which show up in the beginning of the video, are said to bring in $5 for every 1,000 views. Banner ads, the less annoying ones as i would like to think, bring however less money at an estimated $0.80 cents per 1,000 views.

To become a partner with YouTube, you must have:

Over 1,000 Subscribers

Over 1,000 views on each video

Over 10,000 channel views

It has been said that Youtubers do in fact make a lot of money, but I personally never imagined it would be this much! I mean, who knew that uploading a video to YouTube making comedy skits with your friends, such as NigaHiga, would pay you THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of dollars! What people don't realize is that these YouTubers make a living of this one site. We go on this website as a route to listen to music or search up a music video, oblivious of the fact that there is beyond more to this site than that. Most Top Grossing YouTubers don't even need to continue their education as well as have a second job, simply because of the large amount of money they are receiving through YouTube.

Source:

http://socialtimes.com/money-youtube-partners-2013-infographic_b128421

Getting Discovered

TV shows, radios, game shows and talk show hosts… they’re all great ways to become famous. But lately there has been an easier way and it’s called YouTube. How many people out there have seen the “Evolution of Dance” or "Charlie bit my finger"?

In the past couple years, YouTube has opened doors for talent discovery. It has never been so easy for talented singers, dancers and actors to achieve instant fame. Today, a person can upload a video of themselves singing to YouTube and, if it gets seen by the right person, they could receive millions of views, get a record deal and begin a whole new life overnight.

An obvious example would be Justin Bieber. When Justin’s mom uploaded some videos of her son singing to YouTube, she initially meant to share them mainly with family and close friends. What she never expected was to have the videos be seen by music manager Scooter Braun.  Immediately Scooter contacted the family inviting them to Atlanta to sign a record contract. Best part is… Justin had Usher and Justin Timberlake fight for who would sign him, evidently, Usher won.

Before YouTube, singers had to perform to small audiences and in bar gigs, hoping that word would spread out or that a certain famous person would be there. YouTube offers an audience of millions. Of course, uploading a video to YouTube doesn’t guarantee your ticket to fame, but it does increase the chances of someone with real, genuine talent and originality getting discovered.

Here’s Justin Biebers first YouTube upload below and bellow that is a video of him singing for President Obama.. All thanks to YouTube. Amazing, right?