Happy Mother's Day (Love, YouTube)

Everyday, mothers around the world turn to YouTube to learn, connect, grow, and take (and offer us) a well-deserved break. In celebration of this upcoming Mother’s Day, we wanted to take a moment to share a special “thank you” to the millions of moms out there making the world go ‘round. YouTube wouldn't be the same without you.  (For more Mother’s Day appreciation, head on over to our Agency Blog.)

Happy Mother's Day, Moms, and thank you for all that you do!

Posted by Netta Gross

D is for Dance: #10YearsofYouTube

So you think you can dance? Apparently so do countless YouTube fans around the world who’ve uploaded more than 24 million dance-related clips in the last ten years. And while some might be a bit more graceful than others, these twerkers, shakers, flashmobbers, b-boys and ballerinas can have some serious, serious moves.

Since launching 10 years ago, YouTube has been the internet’s go-to place for dance fanatics and aficionados alike. For proof, look no further than the now classic 2006 video Evolution of Dance. The one time most-viewed video on YouTube has earned more than 291 million views to date, and is still being watched almost 1000 hours a day, on average, nearly 9 years later. And given the way dance has evolved on YouTube in the years since, it might be time for another sequel. Series like Where The Hell is Matt? -- which to date has been viewed more than 48 million times in more than 200 countries and territories -- have helped make the world feel like a much smaller place, while mesmerizing dancers like Marques Scott have propelled once niche dance communities into the forefront of our cultural zeitgeist.

Dancing on YouTube has even transformed the way some of us express love, with dramatic proposals and in-depth wedding dance routines making endless headlines while clocking in hundreds of years of watchtime. We’ve seen epic dance routines from the likes of Psy, Maddie Zeggler and Kiesza launch careers and witnessed a twerking phenomenon that nearly broke the internet.

And then of course, there’s the Harlem Shake, which at its peak brought in almost 40,000 videos a day to YouTube, nearly topped Google search trends in 2013 and pushed an artist with no previous chart history to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. All things told, the estimated 2.3 million Harlem Shake clips have driven more than 4.7 billion YouTube views. To put things in perspective, there was a two month span where “Harlem Shake” had more trending search interest on YouTube than the word “Dance.” Let that sink (or shake) in for a minute...

If history has taught us one thing, the next 10 years of YouTube are guaranteed to be filled with an endless evolution of new dance trends. Until then, here’s just a small taste of what we’ve seen so far.



-- Kevin Meenan

C Is for Covers: #10YearsofYouTube

One of the most powerful ways a talented star-to-be becomes known is by putting his or her unique spin on a hit song and simply pressing "upload." Below, a few highlights from the first decade of creative covers and collaborations on YouTube:

• In 2011, when a multi-talented couple covered Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now" with spunk and a stripped-down hip-hop sound, the world listened, lifting the duo known as Karmin to fame. Quickly after, Karmin signed to Epic Records, released an EP in 2012 that peaked at 33 on the US Album chart, and topped singles chart with "Hello" and "Brokenhearted." Still on an upward trajectory, they’ll release their second album this fall.

• In 2012, Lindsey Stirling, a female violinist from Santa Ana, California, emerged as a rising star after collaborating with Pentatonix on a cover of the Imagine Dragons hit "Radioactive." (That was after being told she wasn’t "good enough" on "America's Got Talent," Season 5. Thank goodness that didn’t stop her.) She’s since started a channel on YouTube that’s grown into a force backed by over 6M subscribers, placing her in the top 25 trending music channels on YouTube.

• When the songs of Frozen hit YouTube in late 2013, "Let It Go" became the anthem for people of all ages, but no one cover hit the top spot. Instead, another song from the movie -- a wistful duet between two sisters -- became one of the biggest covers in the history of YouTube. That’s thanks to a talented family and film crew called Working With Lemons. They brought that duet to life in music vid form with their rendition of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" (which is now at 139M views and counting). The family continues to cover and parody more songs from Frozen and Tangled for their 400,000+ subscribers.

Check out our Spotlight Playlist for more from YouTube’s talented collaborators and cover artists:

B Is for Beauty: #10YearsofYouTube

In the past 10 years over 5 billion hours of beauty tutorials and explainers have been uploaded to YouTube. That’s about 100,000 years worth of contouring, eyelash curling, makeup reviews, and hairstyle how-tos.

And today, beauty tutorials are among the most viewed instructional videos on the platform, due in part to the intimate, immediate access they provide to the world of beauty.  For the first time ever, every makeup artist, hair stylist, beauty guru, and his/her unique techniques and experiences are available to anyone who wants to look and feel their most fabulous -inside and out.

Among those gurus are the prolific Michelle Phan and the U.K.’s most popular beauty creator, Zoella. For Zoella in particular, her 7.8 million subscribers see her as a role model they can trust—and whose closet they’d love to raid. In the five years since she launched her channel, Zoella has also found widespread success offline, first by starting her very own makeup line and then by publishing a novel that surpassed even J.K. Rowlings’ debut in first-week book sales.

Through these accessible and personal how-tos, YouTube also provides a space for previously under-represented beauty communities to take center stage. Shameless Maya is one beauty creator who gives the African American community guidance on how to style curly hair. And the one and only Bunny Meyers (Grav3yardgirl) proves that personality is the most essential ingredient of any and every look. And that’s truly a beautiful thing.

In the spirit of celebration, let these classic tutorials make your world a little more creative and a little more gorgeous, just as they did for millions of other viewers:

A Is for Animals: #10YearsofYouTube

By the time you’ve finished reading this post, YouTube viewers around the world will have watched just about 2.5 years worth of animal-related videos. From corgi stampedes, to otters holding hands, to tiny hamsters going on dates, screaming goats, lions, crocodiles, even buffalo battling it out in the wild—still one of YouTube’s earliest and most memorable hits - pet and animal videos stand out as a classic YouTube genre loved by viewers everywhere.

And then there are the cat videos. Everybody’s heard the joke that YouTube’s success is owed to our feline friends. And while this isn’t quite true (little known fact: dog video searches began surpassing cat searches back in 2010), we proudly dedicate this first birthday post, in part, to those tabbies that continually warm our hearts and touch our funny bone.

Indeed: there are approximately 10 million cat videos on YouTube right now, meaning the world has uploaded an average of one to two cat videos per minute over the last 10 years.

For some, one upload leads to global stardom. Grumpy Cat, for instance, was featured in two New York Times best selling books and a Lifetime movie starring Aubrey Plaza. The Keyboard Cat meme, a 2007 video showing a cat playing the piano, has become so popular it made appearances at the MTV Music Awards and The Colbert Report. Nothing less than trailblazers, these kitties paved the way for cats such as Maru, Lil Bub, Colonel Meow, and Simon’s Cat to become some of today’s biggest stars on YouTube.

So, from surprised kitties to talking dogs to sassy honey badgers, thanks for sharing all that’s awesome, “awwww” worthy and awe-inspiring about our dearest furry friends.

Here are some highlights from the wide world of the YouTube Animal Kingdom:

Celebrating 10 Years of YouTube

On April 23, 2005, history was made. An 18-second clip about how cool elephants are was shot at the San Diego Zoo and uploaded to a then-private video sharing site called YouTube.

That May, YouTube launched in beta before becoming available to the wider public six months later. Ten years have now passed, and that site has grown to become not just the biggest video platform on the web—a community of more than one billion people, where hundreds of millions of hours of video are watched and billions of views are generated every day —but one of the largest and most diverse collections of self-expression in history.

YouTube is a portrait of our global culture, seen through the lenses and perspectives of people around the world. It is a portrait built by a creative community of bold and fearless individuals. Built by comedians, gamers, activists, artists, performers, teachers, and pranksters. Built with cats and rainbows and blenders and ninjas and unicorns. It was built on the silly. It was built on the profound. It was built by you.

And 10 years in, you continue to redefine how the world experiences music, entertainment, and news. How the world laughs and how the world learns. How we shape political events and how we connect over the things we love.

You’ve helped turn creators into the biggest names in entertainment. You’ve given people opportunities to share their voice and talent no matter where they are from or what their age or point of view. You built a world where little ideas can bring about amazing things and where amazing things can bring little delights to each of us.

So in honor of our 10th birthday, we’re celebrating you, our YouTube community. Every day over the next 26 days, we’ll take a look back at some of the most memorable moments, from the silly to the profound, that you’ve shared on YouTube in the last 10 years. It’s YouTube from A to Z. Literally.

You can follow our celebration throughout the month of May on our YouTube Trends blog.

Trending This Week: Inventive Ways of Dealing With Loud Neighbors; Calling Out Catcallers

Dealing With Loud Neighbors -- The Olan Rogers Story

In Olan Rogers's latest video, the funnyman-creator describes a revenge plan he plotted against his outrageously loud neighbor that involved a well-placed Craigslist ad, a fictional owl named Lil BB, and 208 tons of glitter. As a storyteller, Rogers is one of the most beloved emerging creators on YouTube, and one of the things that makes him so adored by his nearly 54,000 subscribers is the time and energy he invests in establishing personal relationships with each of his fans. Through the proceeds he makes from his clothing line and Soda Parlor, Rogers has set up a college scholarship fund for his YouTube supporters. [Disclaimer: there is not enough time nor characters in a word document for me to fully disclose how much I adore Olan Rogers. It was a common occurrence during my time at YouTube Nation, that once I started playing a Olan Roger’s video, I would be in fits of laughter for a good 11 minutes and no producer, nor writer who needed to question me for a segment, would be able to break the cycle of giggles. So I admit some bias.]

102-year-old Woman Sees Herself Dancing on Film for First Time

You better prepare the ole’ ticker for all the feelings this video is about to cause. This past week, 102-year-old Ms. Alice Barker watched for the first time films of her career as a professional dancer the 1930s and 40s Harlem Renaissance. In her heyday, Ms. Barker performed in movies, television shows, commercials, and clubs all throughout New York City alongside legends such Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Bill Robinson. Her genuine joy and happiness is contagious throughout the video and has already touched the hearts of over 4.3 million viewers in four short days. At the end of the viewing session, Ms. Barker says, “[It] makes me wish I could get out of this bed and do it all over again.”

Man Catcalls During Anti-Cat Calling Segment

In a recent anti-catcalling segment by Buzz60, host Patrick Jones encounters just the man New York City is attempting to silence with their anti-catcalling signs placed around the city. With cameras rolling, Jones attempts to ask the man why he thinks it’s okay to harass women on the street and in return, receives the classic reply, “I was just paying them a compliment!” With its strong anti-street harassment message, Buzz60’s segment is reminiscent of last year’s conversation starting video “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman,” viewed over 40 million times.

Inside Amy Schumer -- Football Town Lights

Between pranking Kanye and Kim at the Time’s 100 event and hosting the MTV Movie Awards, Amy Schumer is having THE Hollywood moment. Going into the third season of her hit Comedy Central show “Inside Amy Schumer,” Schumer takes an important stand against sexual assault in her latest sketch “Football Town Lights.” A parody of every football movie/TV show ever created, the segment strikes a rare balance between comedy and activism as the characters discuss all the misconceptions people have about sexual assault, consent, and victim blaming. In the end, Schumer’s physical comedy (especially her growing wine glass) provides a comedic note to a serious topic, making this well-timed piece (April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month) a must watch for the weekend.
- Carly Lanning