Step Back to YouTube's Birth: V&A Showcases First Video & Classic Watchpage

The Victoria and Albert Museum, known as the V and A, is giving visitors a chance to experience a piece of internet history. The museum has worked with YouTube to reconstruct the original YouTube watchpage from 2006, using internet archives to make it look just like it did back then. This display lets people see how YouTube looked and worked in its early days. Along with the old watchpage, the museum has also acquired the first video ever uploaded to YouTube, called 'Me at the Zoo. ' This video was posted by Jawed Karim, one of YouTube's co-founders, in April 2005. In the video, Jawed stands in front of an elephant enclosure at the zoo and talks about elephants. The video is simple, but it is very important because it started a new way for people to share videos online.

YouTube's chief executive, Neal Mohan, said that rebuilding the old watchpage is more than just showing a video. He said it lets people step back in time and see the beginning of a global cultural phenomenon. 'Me at the Zoo' has been watched nearly 380 million times and has over 18 million likes. It was filmed with a digital camera and marked a turning point in how people create and watch media. Before YouTube, most videos were made by professionals, but this video showed that anyone could make a video and share it with the world.

The old YouTube page also introduced new ideas for websites, like badges, rating buttons, and sharing features. These ideas are now common on many websites. Corinna Gardner, a senior curator at the V and A, said that this display marks an important moment in the history of the internet and digital design. She said that showing the old YouTube page helps people understand how the internet has changed our world. The museum has also collected other digital items, like the game Flappy Bird and the mosquito emoji. The V and A is committed to collecting and preserving digital design so that future generations can learn about how technology has shaped our lives.