Me at the zoo
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN mentions it as a historical reference, for dates and as the first YouTube video, not as a recommendation.
What it is
The first video ever uploaded to YouTube, in April 2005. Co-founder Jawed Karim stands in front of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo for about 19 seconds.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2016 to 2021.
What Hacker News said
Cites jsight · 2016-02 · on “Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client”
Yeah, everything was better ten years ago. Like this ten year old youtube video: [this video] (240p?). Web pages have become bloated, but they load faster on my phone now than they did on the desktop that I had in 2005. There are many frustrating things occuring with development now, but it is crazy to say that ten years ago was objectively better.
Cites ronilan · 2019-07 · on “YouTube was launched as a dating site”
This wayback machine is from April 28, 2005. Me at the Zoo[1] is from April 23, 2005. So technically speaking, someone did upload something. And 5 days is actually really 5 days... Which brings the question - what is the second oldest YouTube video still on the site? Who is the “also ran”? [1] [this video]
Cites muglug · 2020-02 · on “SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM”
> I think YouTube's success is mainly that they were first Actually, Vimeo's first videos[0] were uploaded a month before YouTube's[1]. [0] [LINK] [1] [this video]
Cites drivers99 · 2021-08 · on “The first two hours of MTV (1981) [video]”
Nice. Here’s the first official video on YouTube (not just a test which was then deleted). “Me at the zoo” by jawed (a YouTube founder) 2005-04-23 [this video] 19 seconds long
Cites TheCycoONE · 2021-08 · on “How can we make air conditioners more efficient? [video]”
The first video was founder Jawed Karim visiting the zoo: [this video] It gets pulled out as a factoid periodically.
Cites sorenjan · 2021-09 · on “Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTube” (2005)”
> 16 years later, home video is still the core value of YouTube Is it? I guess it depends on what you mean by home video. Is it "Me at the zoo"[0], or independent content creators like PewDiePie or Veratassium? Compared to Hollywood most if not all Youtube channels are completely different, but when I think of home video and early Youtube I think of personal family trips, not NileRed. [0] [this video]
Critical propogandist · 2021-12 · on “YouTube deleting comments who criticize their hiding of the dislike count”
>I don't think there is deep evil thinking behind dislike change this isn't a small change, it's a major platform decision that impacts user experience, usability and engagement -- it's also received strong criticism from the community including from the original founder of Youtube [1] (see description), but they're pushing it through anyway You're being too naïve about the corporate agendas behind this change. [1] [this video]