Me at the zoo


Me at the zoo is the first video that was uploaded to YouTube. It was uploaded on April 23, 2005 at 20:31:52 PDT by the site's co-founder Jawed Karim, with the username "jawed" and recorded by his high school friend Yakov Lapitsky.
He created a YouTube account on the same day. The 18-second video was shot by Yakov at the San Diego Zoo, featuring Karim in front of the elephants in their old exhibit in Elephant Mesa, making note of their long trunks.
As of June 25th, 2020, the video has garnered over 100 million views on YouTube.

Transcript and caption

This is the transcript of the video:
In 2013, YouTube introduced a new requirement that forced all commenters to use Google+ accounts. In response to this, Karim updated the description of Me at the zoo and added two annotations to the video.

Reception

The Los Angeles Times explained in 2009 that "as the first video uploaded to YouTube, it played a pivotal role in fundamentally altering how people consumed media and helped usher in a golden era of the 60-second video." The Observer describes its production quality as poor. Digital Trends called it a "nondescript affair" and "tongue-in-cheek" video that set "the tone for what was to come" on YouTube.

Legacy

Greg Jarboe describes the video's representation of an "ordinary moment" to be "extraordinary" for its time, demonstrating YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim's vision of what YouTube would become. According to Jarboe, Me at the zoo showed that YouTube was not simply about trying to "capture special moments on video" but rather trying to empower YouTube users "to become the broadcasters of tomorrow". This paved the way for YouTube to become the world's most popular online video community. Aaron Duplantier said that the ordinary "everydayness" and "dry aesthetics" of Me at the zoo set the tone for the type of original amateur content that would become typical of YouTube, especially among YouTubers and vloggers. In addition to being the first YouTube video, it has been described as the first YouTube vlog clip.
Business Insider ranked it the most important YouTube video of all time, stating that the first YouTube video is "representative of YouTube—it doesn't need to be this fancy production; it can be approachable. The first YouTube video is something anyone could create on their own." The New York Observer also ranked it the most important video in YouTube history, stating "the thing is practically a historical artifact." BuzzFeed News listed it among the 20 most important online videos of all time.