19 Seconds

The video was all of 19 seconds long and featured a “day at the zoo” with the focus being on the elephants there. Within a year, the number of videos that had joined it topped 25 million. By the summer of 2006, 100 million video views per day had been uploaded. Then, just a short time later, it was purchased for $1.65 billion in stock.

We did not realize it in the 2005-2006 era, but the new technology would unleash hours of free music and free films. Those items are archived along with those personal videos of loving couples uploading their precious records of wedding vows taken, baby’s first steps, the awkward 3-year-old’s ballet performance and more. Pet parents eager to share their puppy or kitty’s amazing hijinks started posting, and soon thereafter things like future scientist types attempting to ride a bicycle through a burning sheet if plywood.

Health and DIY videos soon became a mainstay, without which I wouldn't know that a month long diet of asparagus and tuna fish would not make my tits bigger after all or how to replace the tri-faced secondary giggler spring on a 62 Jaguar XKE. 

But more importantly, an information revolution of self-important political pundits who freely posted their opinions came about. These videos ranged from pathetic sound bytes to earth-shattering revelations. No longer were the Powers That Be able to decree that it was their way or the highway. 

When, in the summer of 2016, Wikileaks brought forth tens of thousands of emails that had come from Seth Rich’s DNC access, people who had been on the fence about which candidate to select in the 2016 election suddenly knew that they could now only choose either a third-party candidate or one Donald Trump.

This factor played a major role in allowing DJT to clinch that election and the hilariously disbelieving talking heads & their ridiculous statements as the entire nation faced the final moments of the vote count were saved for perpetuity. (rumors that Rachel Maddow’s head exploded when Florida was declared for Trump remain only that)  The Young Turks 2016 election night leftist meltdown has gone down as one of the most enjoyable examples of the on air insanity of  smug third rate media losers.

Meanwhile, the video site’s content creators upped the game in terms of audio and video quality and developed special effects on offer to content creators. A guy could present his views of political realities while the cartoon/AI fish in the bowl leaped up to ask questions or offer critiques as the straight man. It was not always just your cutting-edge ideas but how cleverly you could keep your audience entertained that made you a success.

Of course, Google is basically a Deep State operation. So it was not surprising that people offering up political views that differed from the directed narrative had specific vids de-monetized. In some cases, entire series were eliminated if the content was found unacceptable. But even as the platform took away certain points of view, others managed to elude the censors and create careers commensurate with their talents. We know as much as we rely on it, it's a tech product subject to turbulent tides. Anyone who remembers the products that once dominated our tech world knows that a viable alternative could be right around the corner. No one knows what the future will hold.