YouTube: Broadcast Yourself
It’s late 2005, and the Web is getting a lot more colorful. While we’ve been sharing text and photos for years, video has always been the "final frontier"-too big, too slow, and too many codec headaches. But a new site called YouTube, created by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, is changing the rules.
The Secret Sauce: Flash and FLV
The genius of YouTube isn't the video quality (which is honestly pretty terrible right now), but the ease of use. By using the Adobe Flash player, they've solved the "it doesn't play on my computer" problem. If you can see a banner ad, you can watch a YouTube video.
But the real game-changer is the "Embed" tag. You can take a snippet of code and put a YouTube video on your own blog or MySpace page. They’re providing the bandwidth and the storage for free, and we’re providing the content.
<!-- The tag that changed the Web -->
<object width="425" height="350">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dQw4w9WgXcQ"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dQw4w9WgXcQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed>
</object>
"Me at the zoo" to Global Phenomenon
The first video, "Me at the zoo," was just 18 seconds long, but it proved the point. Now, we're seeing everything from amateur comedy to political rants. It’s the "democratization of television."
Looking Ahead
YouTube is growing at a staggering rate-thousands of videos are being uploaded every day. The bandwidth costs must be astronomical. I wonder how they’ll ever pay for it all? But one thing is certain: the "Viral Video" is now a part of our culture. The line between "consumer" and "creator" is officially gone. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch a cat playing a piano.
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