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The Story Behind YouTube’s History as a Dating Site
How one of the biggest video social media networks started as a dating site
Everyone knows Youtube as one of the video social media sites in the world. After all, it helps host millions of videos and helps generates billions in advertising revenue for Google.
Since been founded in 2005 by formal PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Youtube was quickly racked up by Google in only a year and a half for a whopping 1.65 billion dollars.
Today, it brings in an extraordinary 15.15 billion dollars (2019) for Google, contributing just close to 10% of Google’s total revenue.
But Youtube wasn’t always a place where you showcase makeup videos or your funny montages.
In 2005, Youtube was actually aimed at a different goal: dating.
Youtube and Dating
It’s funny to think about the fact that Youtube’s original intention was focused on dating.
According to the founder, Steve Chen, Youtube was originally designed as a way for people to upload ‘vlogs’ or videos of themselves talking about what they wanted in a partner.
“We thought dating would be the obvious choice…We even had a slogan for it Tune in, Hook up,” Steve Chen told Motherboard.
At the time, the demand for the video was on, but they needed a practical application with it.
With the founder’s registration on Valentine’s day on the 14th of February, dating was the obvious choice for the founders.
“Just three guys on Valentine’s Day that had nothing to do,” Steve said.
With the dating industry set to hit $8.4 billion in 2024, perhaps it was the right niche to start with but just at the wrong time.
Nevertheless, after launching, for five days, not one single person uploaded a video. Even after…
