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Me at the zoo

jawed
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YouTube
Cited on HN 7 times, 2016–2021, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN mentions it as a historical reference, for dates and as the first YouTube video, not as a recommendation.

The first video ever uploaded to YouTube, in April 2005. Co-founder Jawed Karim stands in front of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo for about 19 seconds.

“Here’s the first official video on YouTube” (HN, 2021)

6 citations · 1 critical · Other

7 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@jsight Feb 2016 Cites it
on HN thread Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
Yeah, everything was better ten years ago. Like this ten year old youtube video: [this video] (240p?). Web pages have become bloated, but they load faster on my phone now than they did on the desktop that I had in 2005. There are many frustrating things occuring with development now, but it is crazy to say that ten years ago was objectively better.
@ronilan Jul 2019 Cites it
on HN thread YouTube was launched as a dating site
This wayback machine is from April 28, 2005. Me at the Zoo[1] is from April 23, 2005. So technically speaking, someone did upload something. And 5 days is actually really 5 days... Which brings the question - what is the second oldest YouTube video still on the site? Who is the “also ran”? [1] [this video]
First YouTube video, dated to compare with Wayback capture.
@muglug Feb 2020 Cites it
on HN thread SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM
> I think YouTube's success is mainly that they were first Actually, Vimeo's first videos[0] were uploaded a month before YouTube's[1]. [0] [link] [1] [this video]
Cited for upload date compared with Vimeo's first videos.
@drivers99 Aug 2021 Cites it
on HN thread The first two hours of MTV (1981) [video]
Nice. Here’s the first official video on YouTube (not just a test which was then deleted). “Me at the zoo” by jawed (a YouTube founder) 2005-04-23 [this video] 19 seconds long
The first official YouTube video, 19 seconds long.
@sorenjan Sep 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTube” (2005)
> 16 years later, home video is still the core value of YouTube Is it? I guess it depends on what you mean by home video. Is it "Me at the zoo"[0], or independent content creators like PewDiePie or Veratassium? Compared to Hollywood most if not all Youtube channels are completely different, but when I think of home video and early Youtube I think of personal family trips, not NileRed. [0] [this video]
@propogandist Dec 2021 Pushes back
on HN thread YouTube deleting comments who criticize their hiding of the dislike count
>I don't think there is deep evil thinking behind dislike change this isn't a small change, it's a major platform decision that impacts user experience, usability and engagement -- it's also received strong criticism from the community including from the original founder of Youtube [1] (see description), but they're pushing it through anyway You're being too naïve about the corporate agendas behind this change. [1] [this video]

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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