--- --- # The First YouTube Video Was Uploaded 10 Years Ago  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 23, 2015 5:52 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 23, 2015 5:52 PM UTC On April 23, 2005, at 8:27 p.m., YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded the first YouTube video “Me at the zoo.” Shot by high school friend Yakov Lapitsky (who went on to become an engineering professor), it shows Karim talking about how cool elephants’ trunks are. The nearly 20-second clip has been viewed nearly 20 million times. Ten years later, [YouTube](http://time.com/3822770/susan-wojcicki-2015-time-100/) is “the most valuable storytelling outlet our planet has ever seen” and its CEO Susan Wojcicki is “the visionary behind YouTube’s next evolution,” as Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer [writes](http://time.com/3822770/susan-wojcicki-2015-time-100/) in this year’s TIME 100 issue, which recognizes Wojcicki as a “Titan” in the tech industry. _Read next:_ [_Brian Grazer on Susan Wojcicki_](http://time.com/3822770/susan-wojcicki-2015-time-100/?iid=time%5Freadnext) ### See What Your Twitter Profile Looked Like Over the Last 10 Years  2006 Wayback Machine  2007 Wayback Machine  2008 Wayback Machine  2009 Wayback Machine  2010 Wayback Machine  2011 Wayback Machine  2012 Wayback Machine  2013 The Next Web  2014 TIME [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) First YouTube Video Me at the Zoo Has 10 Year Anniversary ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3833222/first-youtube-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3833222/first-youtube-video/"},"headline":"The First YouTube Video Was Uploaded 10 Years Ago","datePublished":"2015-04-23T17:52:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:42.755Z","description":"Today in Internet history","url":"https://time.com/3833222/first-youtube-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Technology"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3833222/first-youtube-video/","name":"The First YouTube Video Was Uploaded 10 Years Ago"}}]}] ```