Long before the age of YouTubers, vlogs and ye ol’ ‘smash that subscribe button down below’ jargon, there was a time when one sweet, sweet video existed on the platform all by its lonesome. “Me at the zoo” was uploaded to YouTube on April 23, 2005 – 15 years ago – in the US by co-founder Jawed Karim.
The 18-second snippet was filmed at San Diego Zoo.
“So here we are in front of the, er, elephants,” Jawed says to camera, in front of the, er, elephants. “The cool thing about these guys 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.”
Little did he know at the time, but this elephant-chatting footage would eventually turn into one of the greatest video-sharing platforms of our time.
The tester video has amassed over 90 million views, with ’20 punters marvelling at its sheer simplicity.
So next time you find yourself in a K-hole of YouTuber feuds, ring lights and ‘like, comment and subscribes’, think back to the moment a guy talked about elephant trunks.
Behold, a masterpiece.
