YouTube is the world's most popular video-sharing platform, with over two billion monthly active users and over 500 hours of video uploaded every minute. But how much do you really know about this giant of the internet? In this blog post, we will reveal five interesting facts about YouTube that nobody knows, or at least very few people do. Let's dive in!
1. YouTube was originally a dating site
Yes, you read that right. YouTube was initially conceived as a video dating site called "Tune In Hook Up", inspired by the then-popular site Hot or Not. The idea was to let users upload videos of themselves and rate other people's videos. However, the founders soon realized that the concept was not very appealing, and they decided to pivot to a general video-sharing platform instead. The first video ever uploaded to YouTube was a 19-second clip of co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo.
2. YouTube has a hidden dark mode
If you are tired of the bright white background of YouTube, you can switch to a dark mode that is easier on the eyes and more suitable for night-time viewing. To activate this feature, you need to access the developer console of your browser and enter a specific code. You can find detailed instructions on how to do this online. Once you enable the dark mode, you can toggle it on and off by clicking on your profile icon and selecting "Dark theme".
3. YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world
Google is the undisputed king of search engines, but do you know who is the runner-up? It's not Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo. It's YouTube. According to a 2019 report by SimilarWeb, YouTube gets over 34 billion monthly visits, making it the second-most visited website in the world after Google. Most of these visits are from people who are looking for something specific, such as how-to videos, tutorials, reviews, entertainment, and more. That's why YouTube is considered a search engine, and a very powerful one at that.
4. YouTube has a secret snake game
Remember the classic snake game that you used to play on your old Nokia phone? Well, you can still play it on YouTube, but only if you know the trick. To access this hidden game, you need to pause a video, press the left arrow key, and then quickly press the up arrow key. A small snake will appear on the screen, and you can control it with the arrow keys. The goal is to eat as many dots as possible without hitting the walls or your own tail. Try it out and see how high you can score!
5. YouTube pays tribute to the 1980s with a VHS mode
If you are feeling nostalgic for the days of VHS tapes, YouTube has a surprise for you. In some videos, you can see a small tape icon on the bottom right corner of the player. If you click on it, the video will switch to a VHS mode, complete with fuzzy images, distorted sounds, and static lines. This feature was introduced in 2013 as a tribute to the 57th anniversary of the first commercial video cassette recorder. It only works on videos that were uploaded before 2013, and only on certain browsers, such as Chrome and Firefox.
Conclusion
YouTube is more than just a place to watch cat videos and music clips. It's a platform that is full of surprises, secrets, and history. We hope you enjoyed learning these five interesting facts about YouTube that nobody knows. If you did, please share this blog post with your friends and family.
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