YouTube: 7 Years Later And No Signs Of Slowing (VIDEOS)

Happy 7th Birthday, YouTube
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Today marks the seventh anniversary of the first-ever video uploaded to YouTube, the auspicious, investigative piece, "Me At The Zoo," seen above.

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It was the silent shot felt round the world, a 19-second, pixelated drop that would spawn a tsunami of homemade video content, more "than any other location in human history," notes Mashable.

To give some perspective about the platform's growth, here are some key stats released by YouTube, which is now owned by Google:

  • 60 hours of video are upladed every minute; one hour of video is uploaded every second.
  • More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the three major U.S. networks created in 60 years.
  • In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or almost 140 views for every person on earth.
  • More than 4 billion videos are viewed every day.
  • More than 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube.

YouTube has housed millions of mild, self-amusing LOLs, seen the rise of furry, adorable robber-barons of viral traffic, and spawned brood after brood of bizarre, user-generated remixes, mash-ups and meltdowns. It has caught revolutions in progress, launched careers and helped spread ideas.

Take a look at some of our favorite YouTube videos (below), and tell us what your favorite are in the comments (below), on Twitter (@HuffPostTech) or via email (technology@huffingtonpost.com).

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