YouTube is turning 10, and it's doing so in a very YouTube fashion: with an awesome video retrospective. The video, called "A-Z of YouTube: Celebrating 10 Years," rolls through 26 video categories and their iconic representatives that, if you've been paying any attention to the Internet, will have you feeling nostalgic for the moment you first discovered that Harlem Shake video, or how you insisted your friend watch the Star Wars kid, or when the video of the deaf woman hearing her own voice for the first time warmed even your cold, brittle heart.
Gamification is part of the celebration, too: if you go here you can play the pop culture game, and test your own YouTube knowledge.
YouTube launched in May 2005 and in 2006 was acquired by Google for $1.65 billion. That year, Time lauded "You" on YouTube as the Person of the Year, and from then on, online content hasn't been the same. Everyone with access to Final Cut now has the potential to be a video publisher, brands regularly and easily create original, dynamic content, bands' careers can be made by a well-time cover, and millennials across the land have become famous simply by documenting their daily lives.
YouTube has also drastically changed the landscape for broadcast and advertising, and to honor that, they've created a ballot with 20 memorable ads that went viral on the platform. The voting is closed now, but I'm eager to see which ads win fan favorites when they announce next week. Which ads or moments from YouTube are your favorite?
