History
YouTube is the most popular video-sharing website on the net, and has become one of the most famous Internet names, along with Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia. The site was created in 2005 by three former Paypal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. The site is currently owned by Google, and was non-profit-making for several years, although this has changed more recently. Its popularity has made amateur video sharing part of Internet culture. The site would have been unthinkable in the early days of e2 in 1999, relying as it does on high-bandwidth internet connections. YouTube has famously clogged up the website of the American company, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corp., whose original website address was utube.com, which constantly got swamped by internet users seeking YouTube. They have sued in court in an attempt to gain the YouTube.com domain, but are currently using utubeonline.com. YouTube has also led to the growth of video sharing porn sites, like Youporn. I must confess to not having spent much time on the site, but I do enjoy Michael Rosen's - We're Going On A Bear Hunt.
Site layout
YouTube currently has four main tabs: Home, Videos, Channels, and Community. The Home tab highlights Videos being watched right now, Promoted videos, Featured videos, and What's New. The Videos tab displays categories such as Autos & Vehicles, Comedy, Education, Entertainment, Film & Animation, Howto & Style, Music, News & Politics, People & Blogs, Pets & Animals, Science & Technology, Sports, Travel & Events. Videos are also categorised as Featured, Rising Videos, Most Discussed, Most Recent, Most Responded, Most Viewed, Top Favorites, and Top Rated. Videos are given a star rating (1-5). The Channels tab currently shows Comedians, Directors, Gurus, Musicians, Non-Profit, Partners, Politicians, Sponsors, and YouChoose 08. Community is divided between Groups, Contests, Blog, TestTube, YouTube Handbook, and Forums.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube
YouTube