View source for Social:Me at the zoo

{{italic title}}
{{short description|The first video ever uploaded to YouTube}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Me at the zoo
| image          = Me at the zoo.webm
| alt            = 
| caption        = Full video
| director       = 
| producer       = [[Biography:Jawed Karim|Jawed Karim]]
| starring       = Jawed Karim
| cinematography = Yakov Lapitsky
| editing        = 
| released       = April 23, 2005, 20:26:42 ([[Pacific Time Zone|PDT]]); {{Time ago|April 23, 2005 20:26:42 PDT}}
| country        = {{wipe|United States}}
| language       = [[Social:English language|English]]
}}
'''''Me at the zoo''''' is the first video that was uploaded to [[Company:YouTube|YouTube]]. It was uploaded on April 23, 2005 at 20:27:12 [[Pacific Time Zone|PDT]] (April 24, 2005 at 2:17:12 [[Physics:Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]])<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/citizenevidence/ |title=Extract Meta Data |website=www.amnestyusa.org|access-date=February 22, 2017}}</ref> by the site's co-founder [[Biography:Jawed Karim|Jawed Karim]], with the username "jawed" and recorded by his high school friend Yakov Lapitsky.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Canwest |date=February 19, 2010 |title=Ten of YouTube's most influential videos |first=Matt |last=Hartley}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Metro |date=April 15, 2010 |title=Elephants to Gaga |first=Ross |last=McGuinness |page=34 |quote=IT began with a spectacularly ordinary 18-second clip of man at the zoo, watching some elephants ... It has been viewed almost 2 million times.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian (London) |date=October 23, 2009 |title=G2: A First Time For Everything |first1=Tom |last1=Meltzer |first2=Sarah |last2=Phillips |page=14 |quote="Me at the zoo" is a man called Karim's 19-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.}}</ref>

He created a YouTube account on the same day.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/user/jawed/about|title=jawed - YouTube|website=YouTube|accessdate=April 23, 2015|quote=Joined April 24, 2005}}</ref> The 18-second video was shot by Yakov at the San Diego Zoo, featuring Karim in front of the [[Biology:Elephant|elephant]]s in their old exhibit in Elephant Mesa, making note of their long [[Biology:Elephant#Trunk|trunks]].<ref name="guardian20110411">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/11/youtube-web-video-stars|title=How YouTube made superstars out of everyday people|last=Hoby|first=Hermione|date=April 11, 2011|newspaper=The Observer|accessdate=May 1, 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023101635/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/11/youtube-web-video-stars|archivedate=October 23, 2013|url-status=dead|publisher=Guardian Media Group|author2=Tom Lamont|location=Kings Place, London, England, UK|issn=0029-7712|oclc=50230244|quote=A girl in red hot pants 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}}</ref><ref name="Heffernan20090906">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06FOB-medium-t.html|title=Uploading the Avant-Garde|last=Heffernan|first=Virginia|date=September 6, 2009|newspaper=The New York Times|accessdate=April 4, 2011|quote=The first video on YouTube was uploaded at 8:27 pm. 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.}}</ref>

==Transcript and caption==
This is the transcript of the video:

{{quote|All right, so here we are in front of the, uh, elephants, and the cool thing about these guys is that, is that they have really, really, really long, um, trunks, and that's, that's cool, and that's pretty much all there is to say.}}

In 2013, YouTube introduced a new requirement that forced all commenters to use [[Social:Google+|Google+]] accounts. In response to this, Karim updated the description of ''Me at the zoo'' and added two annotations to the video.<ref name="2014note">Bonanos, Paul (April 23, 2014). [http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6062921/happy-ninth-birthday-youtube-from-me-at-the-zoo-to-a-billion-monthly-visits Happy Ninth Birthday YouTube: From 'Me at the Zoo' to a Billion Monthly Visits], ''Billboard (magazine)''</ref>

==Reception==
The ''{{wipe|Los Angeles Times}}'' explained in 2009 that "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."<ref name="LAT20100517">{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/17/entertainment/la-et-youtube-20100517|title=YouTube turns 5, can't wait to grow up|last=Pham|first=Alex|date=April 10, 2010|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=April 20, 2011|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5y6MI3hAC?url=http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/17/entertainment/la-et-youtube-20100517|archivedate=April 21, 2011|url-status=dead|publisher=Eddy Hartenstein|location=Los Angeles, California, USA|issn=0458-3035|oclc=3638237|quote=Born as a clearinghouse for quick, quirky homemade videos, the site now seeks to add more professional and profitable content.}}</ref>  ''The Observer'' describes its production quality as poor.<ref name="guardian20110411"/> ''[[Company:Digital Trends|Digital Trends]]'' called it a "nondescript affair" and "tongue-in-cheek" video that set "the tone for what was to come" on YouTube.<ref>{{cite news |title=‘Elephants have really long trunks’ — YouTube’s first ever video upload turns seven years old today |url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/web/elephants-have-really-long-trunks-youtubes-first-ever-video-upload-turns-seven-years-old-today/ |accessdate=26 August 2019 |work=[[Company:Digital Trends|Digital Trends]] |date=April 23, 2012}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Greg Jarboe describes the video's representation of an "ordinary moment" to be "extraordinary" for its time, demonstrating YouTube co-founder [[Biography:Jawed Karim|Jawed Karim]]'s vision of what YouTube would become. According to Jarboe, ''Me at the zoo'' showed that YouTube was not simply about trying to "capture special moments on video" but rather trying to empower [[Social:YouTuber|YouTube users]] "to become the broadcasters of tomorrow". This paved the way for YouTube to become the world's most popular online video community.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jarboe |first1=Greg |title=YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day |date=2009 |publisher={{wipe|John Wiley & Sons}} |isbn=9780470577820 |page=xxi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTuWAAAAQBAJ&pg=PR21}}</ref> Aaron Duplantier said that the ordinary "everydayness" and "dry aesthetics" of ''Me at the zoo'' set the tone for the type of original amateur content that would become typical of YouTube, especially among YouTubers and vloggers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Duplantier |first1=Aaron |title=Authenticity and How We Fake It: Belief and Subjectivity in Reality TV, Facebook and YouTube |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786498499 |page=122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CdPIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA122}}</ref> In addition to being the first YouTube video, it has been described as the first YouTube [[Vlog|vlog]] clip.<ref>{{cite news |title=YouTube created a FOMO viewing culture over the past 13 years |url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/23/17272402/first-youtube-video-anniversary-13-jawed-karim |work=Polygon |date=April 23, 2018}}</ref>

''Business Insider'' ranked it the most important YouTube video of all time, stating that the first YouTube video is "representative of YouTube — it doesn't need to be this fancy production; it can be approachable. The first Youtube video is something anyone could create on their own."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Baer |first1=Drake |title=The 10 most important Youtube videos of all time |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/most-important-youtube-videos-2015-2 |accessdate=26 August 2019 |work=Business Insider |date=February 20, 2015}}</ref> ''The New York Observer'' also ranked it the most important video in YouTube history, stating "the thing is practically a historical artifact."<ref>{{cite news |title=The 10 Most Important Videos in YouTube History |url=https://observer.com/2015/02/the-10-most-important-videos-in-youtube-history/ |accessdate=26 August 2019 |work=The New York Observer |date=13 February 2015}}</ref> ''BuzzFeed News'' listed it among the 20 most important online videos of all time.<ref>{{cite news |title=The 20 Most Important Online Videos Of All Time |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/summeranne/the-20-most-important-online-videos-of-all-time |accessdate=29 August 2019 |work=BuzzFeed News |publisher=BuzzFeed |date=September 27, 2012 |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==

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[[Category:Internet memes]]

{{Sourceattribution|Me at the zoo|1}}