YouTube was meant to be a dating site

SPH Brightcove Video
Did you know that YouTube was originally created in the name of love? The founders of the site registered their domain on Valentine's Day with the intention of making YouTube a video dating site. Cofounder Steve Chen spoke at SXSW this year saying that the decision to change directions with YouTube happened only five days after launching the site. After no video dating activity, Chen said to his team, 'Okay, forget the dating aspect. Let’s just open it up to any video.' That was the turning point. YouTube is now the largest video hub today with Google even forking out US$1.6 billion to attempt to purchase it.



SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA - Did you know that YouTube was originally created in the name of love?

The founders of the site registered their domain on Valentine's Day with the intention of making YouTube a video dating site. Co-founder Steve Chen spoke at South by Southwest (SxSW) this year saying that the decision to change directions with YouTube happened only five days after launching the site.

After no video dating activity, Chen said to his team, "Okay, forget the dating aspect. Let's just open it up to any video."

That was the turning point.

YouTube is now the largest video hub today with Google even forking out US$1.6 billion (S$2.17 billion) to attempt to purchase it.

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