The video was all of 19 seconds long and featured a “day at the zoo” with the focus being on the elephants there.

Within a year, the number of videos that had joined it topped 25 million. By the summer of 2006, 100 million video views per day had been uploaded. Then, just a short time later,  Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. This was Google’s second-largest acquisition at the time.

Further info can be viewed here.

We did not realize it in the 2005-2006 era, but the new technology would unleash hours of free music and free films. Those items are archived along with those personal videos of loving couples uploading their precious records of wedding vows taken, hilarious “best man” accounts of the groom, the baby’s first steps, the awkward 3-year-old’s ballet performance and more. Pet owners eager to share their puppy or kitty’s amazing hijinks started posting, and this group of YouTubers has never stopped.

But more importantly, an information revolution of political pundits who freely posted their opinions came about. These videos ranged from pathetic sound bytes to earth-shattering revelations. No longer were the Powers That Be able to decree that it was their way or the highway.

When, in the summer of 2016, Wikileaks brought forth tens of thousands of emails that had come from Seth Rich’s DNC access, people who had been on the fence about which candidate to select in the 2016 election suddenly knew that they could now only choose either a third-party candidate or one Donald Trump.

This factor played a major role in allowing Trump to clinch that election. Additionally, the hilariously disbelieving talking heads & their ridiculous statements as the entire nation faced the final moments of the vote count were saved on YouTube for perpetuity. (And rumors that Rachel Maddow’s head exploded when Florida was declared for Trump remain only that, mere rumors. At least until someone somewhere offers up a vid recording of her brain’s instant vaporization. As well as one of her AI re-creations.)

Over the years, several new factors crept in. YouTube monetized videos. Then the serious as well as humorous content creators could earn money for their videos. Newly created media stars across all fields flourished. Teenagers with talent who recorded their songs and performances no longer had to hope to obtain an agent and then hope against hope that the shark would get them into the spotlight. All they had to hope for was that enough people shared their music vids such that the recording studios sent out the A&R representative. One shining example was Megan Trainor and her hit “All About That Bass.”

The band “Journey” needed a lead singer to replace Steve Perry. They found someone suitable by viewing YouTube vids of Pacific Rim singers doing cover songs of the band’s hits. The guy whose voice most reminded the band members of Perry’s was flown to LA recording studios. And so a new use for the vids was realized.

Meanwhile, the site’s content creators upped the game in terms of audio and video quality and developed special effects on offer to content creators. A guy could present his views of political realities while the cartoon/AI fish in the bowl leaped up to ask questions or offer critiques as the straight man. (Er, straight fish.) It was not always just your cutting-edge ideas but how cleverly you could keep your audience entertained that made you a success.

Of course, Google is basically a Deep State operation. So it was not surprising that people offering up political views that differed from the mainstream narrative had specific vids de-monetized. In some cases, entire series were eliminated if the content was found unacceptable.

But even as YouTube took away certain points of view, others managed to elude the censors and create careers commensurate with their talents. During COVID, YouTube allowed one JP Sears of LA, a chance to expound his philosophies. His serious expositions had already gained him a healthy LA audience. Then once he applied humor to the task of finding fault with Fauci and with that man’s idiotic protocols for COVID, he not only saw his popularity rise on a nationwide level but he kept the millions of us “COVID-hesitant” from feeling that we were mutant outsiders.

It should also be noted that the social media platform allowed those who had been 86ed from TV networks to explore the ability to keep their careers up and running after their TV cancellation.

When Tucker Carlson was canceled by Fox, he followed Glenn Beck’s example and almost immediately turned to YouTube.  His viewership soon topped 1.5 million views per episode, if the episode’s content was some average topic. When an episode featured a bombshell revelation, he might have 8 million views on YouTube. (A comparison: the MSNBC nighttime ruler of network TV—after Carlson who’d previously held the title—was one Rachel Maddow. But she could only garner 350K viewers even on an important night; it was easy to understand that the new media ruled.)

Even God is not left out of the equation. The housebound can watch the Catholic Mass from the comfort of their bedroom. People of other faiths know where to find their favorite rabbi or minister.

Audio books are also on the platform. Usually the only visual is a simple photo. But for people whose vision is impaired,  or who enjoy hearing a book read to them while commuting, that matter makes little difference.

Of course, as much as we rely on YouTube, it is a tech product subject to turbulent tides. Anyone who remembers the products that once dominated our tech world knows that a viable alternative could be right around the corner. No one knows what the future will hold. But it will have to be an awesome product to make as big a dent in our lives as the YouTube platform has managed to do for us.

Connections were made on multiple levels. (Photo is free ware.)