Since 2005, YouTube has transformed itself from a small website where the average person could share home videos to the MTV of the 21st century. Its first video was uploaded by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim in April of 2005. It showed that the site was originally meant for amateurs to post videos about their daily lives. However, since 2010 the most-watched videos on the website have been from signed recording artists like Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen, Bruno Mars and South Korean pop sensation, Psy. But how did this happen? Even after Google bought the online video service back in October 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars, it still was relatively the same until a few years later. Google gave YouTube the resources it needed to become a social media giant, but it was the experiments with big corporation that made them thrive. An article by Business Insider, which shows key turning points in the history of YouTube, said that the website showed the potential to become an important promotional tool for businesses as early as September 2005 when a Nike commercial became the first video to hit 1 million viewers. As a result, Nike became one of the first major companies to use YouTube in their marketing campaigns. A well-publicized dispute between YouTube and NBC in early 2006 was also a turning point. NBC asked YouTube to remove a Saturday Night Live clip called “Lazy Sunday” due to copyright infringement. In October 2007, YouTube introduced the Content Verification Program to help businesses find and remove videos that infringe on copyrights. Shortly afterward, NBC put aside their differences and became one of YouTube’s first partners by allowing them to promote the fall TV lineup. Read more http://www.techi.com/2013/06/youtubes-8-year-anniversary-the-evolution-into-a-major-media-giant/
