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On Twenty Years of YouTube

Dull dinner party video clips unshared
shaped YouTube’s genesis, or so it’s claimed.
Yet others say, when Janet Jackson bared
a nipple, that a co-creator aimed
to see if it was accidentally flashed.
His curiosity was not assuaged—
by old technology his hopes were dashed.
Thus challenged, YouTube’s clout was soon uncaged.
The birth of influencers was at hand,
and copyright of films and bands infringed.
And while misinformation’s flames were fanned
and on short, trashy videos we binged,
Psy’s Gangnam dancing earned a billion hits,
which overshadowed Janet Jackson’s… glitz.

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Poet’s Note: YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. One account of how YouTube came about, is that Hurley and Chen thought up with the idea after experiencing difficulty sharing video clips of a dinner party. Karim, however, said the idea for YouTube came about from the Super Bowl halftime show controversy when Justin Timberlake briefly exposed Janet Jackson’s breast during the halftime show, and he (Karim) could not easily find video clips of the incident on the internet.

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Paul A. Freeman is the author of Rumours of Ophir, a crime novel which was taught in Zimbabwean high schools and has been translated into German. In addition to having two novels, a children’s book and an 18,000-word narrative poem (Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers!) commercially published, Paul is the author of hundreds of published short stories, poems and articles.

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10 Responses

  1. Warren Bonham

    I interact with YouTube almost daily and never once thought to investigate its origins. This was a very clever way of explaining the back-story with an even more clever way of ending the poem.

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      Cheers, Warren. That last line did take a bit of thought, but sometimes serendipity intervenes.

      Reply
  2. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Interesting history well told. I access it only for oldies music. Often when I type in a title in the search box I wind up there.

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      You Tube is a very useful tool, Roy. I also access the site mostly for music.

      Reply
  3. jd

    I am grateful for its presence. Somehow, I’m able to find many excellent movies generously provided for free not to mention recipes and videos on how to do almost anything. Enjoyed your clever way of providing its probable beginnings, Paul.

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      For a writer and a teacher, YouTube is invaluable. Longest words in English came up the other day and we were soon watching Mary Poppins, and Julie Andrews singing ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ – which one of my students later used in an essay!

      Reply
  4. Margaret Coats

    Thanks for the amusement, Paul! I learned of YouTube practically as soon as it came into being, because choir directors immediately posted practice files for singers to follow at home. It does save an immense amount of meeting time if everyone already knows his or her part when coming to formal practice sessions. Now that there are so many colorful videos with melody or harmony beautifully played and lyrics on screen, I can have my singers learn challenging tunes for a single occasion. Just last Saturday, we performed an Irish folk song not at all easy to learn. It was available from several music groups, and for one gentleman who has difficulty learning if the usual medium-to-high soprano leads, he was able to solo along with an Irish tenor!

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      Glad you found the poem funny, Margaret. YouTube is useful when I’m teaching to introduce snippets of information my students have perhaps never come across. I’ve written a comprehension passage on celebrity chefs, and imagine I’ll be showing them a few clips – though I’ll have to check out Gordon Ramsay beforehand (his language can be a bit fruity).

      Reply
    • Julian D. Woodruff

      Margaret,
      A quick note. A demanding project has left me way behind in keeping up with things on SCP, but your comment brought immediately to my mind an experience you will appreciate. Once years ago I was searching the Internet (probably YouTube) for renditions of Bruckner’s “Christus factus est”: by far the best at that point was done by a group of Japanese highschoolers! That is the beauty of the Web. I’ll leave it’s many frustrations for another time.

      Reply
      • Paul A. Freeman

        I often allude to something quite run of the mill in Western culture that my students have no idea of (the Beatles, for instance), and YouTube comes to the rescue with its clips.

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