Me at the zoo

Me at the zoo
Narrated by Jawed Karim
Starring Jawed Karim
Cinematography Yakov Lapitsky
Distributed by YouTube
Release date(s) April 23, 2005 (2005-04-23)
Running time 19 seconds
Country United States
Language English

Me at the zoo is the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube. It was uploaded at 8:27 pm on Saturday, April 23, 2005 by Jawed Karim, one of the co-founders of the site, under the username "jawed".[1][2][3][4][5] Described by The Observer as "poor-quality", the video was shot by Yakov Lapitsky at the San Diego Zoo; it features Karim in front of the elephants, explaining how interesting their "really, really, really long trunks" are, and is 19 seconds long.[6][7]

The Los Angeles Times states: "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."[2] As of November 2011, the video had received over 6 million views.[8]

References

  1. ^ Geoghegan, Tom (2011-03-21). "Twitter, telegram and e-mail: Famous first lines" (in British English). London, England, UK: BBC News. Archived from the original on 2011-04-29. http://www.webcitation.org/5yJYS9qZz. Retrieved 2011-04-29. 
  2. ^ a b Pham, Alex (2010-05-17). "YouTube turns 5, can't wait to grow up". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California, USA: Eddy Hartenstein). ISSN 0458-3035. OCLC 3638237. Archived from the original on 2011-04-20. http://www.webcitation.org/5y6MI3hAC. Retrieved 2011-04-20. "Born as a clearinghouse for quick, quirky homemade videos, the site now seeks to add more professional — and profitable — content." 
  3. ^ Hartley, Matt (19 February 2010). "Ten of YouTube's most influential videos". Canwest. 
  4. ^ McGuinness, Ross (15 April 2010). "Elephants to Gaga". Metro: p. 34. "IT began with a spectacularly ordinary 19-second clip of man at the zoo, watching some elephants... It has been viewed almost 2million times." 
  5. ^ Meltzer, Tom; Phillips, Sarah (23 October 2009). "G2: A First Time For Everything". The Guardian (London): p. 14. ""Me at the zoo" is a man called Karim's 18-second long report from the elephant enclosure at San Diego zoo... But its historical significance means that it has had well over a million hits so far." 
  6. ^ Hoby, Hermione; Tom Lamont (2011-04-11). "How YouTube made superstars out of everyday people" (in British English). The Observer (Kings Place, London, England, UK: Guardian Media Group). ISSN 0029-7712. OCLC 50230244. Archived from the original on 2011-05-01. http://www.webcitation.org/5yMwWYKJU. Retrieved 2011-05-01. "A girl in red hotpants helped elect a US president, a British pensioner became everyone's favourite grandad. In just five years, the YouTube website has invented a new kind of celebrity" 
  7. ^ Heffernan, Virginia (September 6, 2009). "Uploading the Avant-Garde". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06FOB-medium-t.html. Retrieved 2011-04-04. "The first video on YouTube was uploaded at 8:27 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, 2005. It’s called “Me at the Zoo,” and it features the musings of Jawed Karim, one of the site’s founders, as elephants nose around in hay behind him." 
  8. ^ Karim, Jawed (2005-04-23). "Me at the zoo". San Diego Zoo, San Diego, California, USA: YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw. Retrieved 2011-11-23. 

External links