YouTube turns 10: How the site has changed our lives

In 2015, the idea of a life without Taylor Swift’s new video and a herd of cute cats right at our fingertips is inconceivable.

But just 10 years ago, before three PayPal executives launched the video sharing website YouTube on Feb. 14, 2005, that was the life we faced.

Music videos were on MTV (occasionally). Cute cat videos were on friends’ camcorders. Recipes were in cookbooks, and there was no one to show you how to put it all together.

As YouTube turns 10 this month, the list of ways it has changed life online is long. It has created its own celebrities, made a home for music videos, offered instructions on how to do everything, and introduced the world to hundreds of thousands of previously unseen cats.

More than 1 billion unique visitors visit YouTube each month, according to its website, and more than 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute.

“People kind of go to it as an encyclopedia as sorts,” said Germaine Halegoua, an assistant professor in the University of Kansas Department of Film and Media Studies. “There’s that assumption that anything you need is on YouTube. Anything you’ve seen or want to see is there.”

Here’s a look at 10 ways YouTube has made our lives easier, weirder and more enjoyable during the past decade.

1. It’s taking over the music world

Back in the 1980s, when music videos were first invented, MTV was the only place to see them. But over the years, MTV began drifting more toward “TV” than “M,” favoring scripted and reality programs over music videos. YouTube has sparked a music video renaissance, as users can find anything from Taylor Swift’s video for her current hit “Blank Space” (more than 466 million views) to original MTV-era videos including Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (more than 219 million views).

A list of YouTube’s top 100 most viewed videos of all time is made up almost entirely of music videos. No. 1 is “Gangnam Style,” a high-energy dance video by South Korean pop star Psy. The list is also populated with a lot of Katy Perry, Eminem, Justin Bieber, Shakira and Pitbull.

YouTube looks to become an even bigger player in the music industry with its new subscription service Music Key, which will offer paid subscribers ad-free streaming of music and music videos – and likely will challenge other streaming services like Spotify and Vimeo.

YouTube also offers a platform for local bands, who can’t afford to produce music videos that will reach the audiences they’re hoping to attract to gigs.

But they can afford to post YouTube videos.

Over the years, videos of local band performances have been uploaded by the hundreds onto YouTube, either by fans or by the artists themselves. Split Lip Rayfield has dozens of videos online, as does Mumblin’ Jones, Uche and the Crash and more.

Jeannie Hartley is a local hobby videographer who owns professional grade equipment and has a YouTube channel filled with local band performances. Visitors can see performances by Wolfgang, The Banned, Rudy Love and more.

Some of the videos she does on her own because she loves local music. Other videos she’s been hired to do.

“I love YouTube,” she said. “And I know the musicians love it. I don’t know where else people would go to look for local music from a local band.”

2. All those cats

YouTube is the place for feline films. The service is famously filled with videos of cats being cats: playing with babies, squeezing into small spaces and warring with dogs.

Local engineer Paul Klusman launched his three cats into YouTube fame in 2008, when he and fellow engineer T.J. Wingard created “An Engineer’s Guide to Cats,” a droll, mock instructional video that includes cat yodeling, cat performance art, cat fighting and more. Klusman, who has filmmaking aspirations, tried and failed to get his kitty creation into film festivals. Frustrated and ready to give up on his hobby, he posted the video to YouTube so at least his friends and family could enjoy it.

About two months later, the video went viral. Klusman says he still doesn’t know why it caught fire, but he clearly remembers his astonishment as the views went up and up and up. Today, the video of Zoey, Ginger and Oscar has been viewed more than 6.7 million times, and a couple of follow-up videos the duo created have had respectable views, too.

The video was mentioned on Katy Perry’s blog, was the No. 1 video two weeks in a row on a viral video chart, and got the guys into a number of big events, including YouTube Live, a 2008 gathering of YouTube’s biggest stars. They also made it into the annual cat film festival at the Minnesota State Fair. And they met Grumpy Cat in person.

YouTube is an amazing invention, Klusman said. And not just for cats and engineers.

“It can take you to wild places, just from this free format,” he said. “You might have to watch an ad or two, but the whole service is free. And there are people who have spring boarded and gotten careers off of it.”

3. Without YouTube, there’d be no Bieber

The entertainment world is full of stars who were launched into celebrity after being spotted on YouTube.

Pop singer Justin Bieber is probably the best known. He began posting homemade videos of himself when he was 12. A big talent agent saw the videos and helped him get a record deal. Now he’s an international pop star and his video for “Baby” is the second-most viewed YouTube video in history.

There’s also Austin Mahone, a pop star known for songs such as “What About Love.” He also was discovered after posting a video onto YouTube in 2010. He got an online following, and then a record deal. Australian pop singer Cody Simpson’s career followed the same storyline.

Singer and actress Charice also rose to fame via videos she posted on YouTube. Her career was bolstered by Oprah Winfrey, who had her on her show and then helped her get hooked up with music producer David Foster. Charice’s big pop hit is “Pyramid,” and her fame also led to a role on “Glee,” playing Sunshine Corazon.

And classic rock band Journey found their replacement for longtime lead singer Steve Perry on YouTube. Guitarist Neal Schon saw videos of Filipino club singer Arnel Pineda on YouTube and invited him to audition to be the band’s new lead singer.

Even Psy, he of the “Gangnam Style,” owes his international fame to YouTube.

4. YouTube famous

YouTube also has a long list of celebrities it created and then kept. These are regular users who make a living – and sometimes make millions – based on their YouTube fame.

There’s PewDiePie, a Swedish video gamer who is one of YouTube’s top celebrities. The videos he’s posted of himself hilariously narrating his own video game play have been viewed 7.7 billion times. Since joining YouTube in 2010, he’s earned 34 million subscribers to his YouTube channel.

Other YouTube celebrities include foul-mouthed comedic commentator Jenna Marbles and comedy duo Smosh.

Wichita native Taryn Southern, who moved to Los Angeles after her 2003 graduation from East High to make a career in the entertainment industry, is a YouTube star on the rise. Her first taste of Internet fame came in 2007, when she produced and starred in a political satire video about Hillary Clinton called “Hot4Hill.” It went viral and now has around 2.3 million views.

After its success, Southern continued to pursue acting, even landing a temporary role on the CBS show “Rules of Engagement” starring David Spade. But these days, her career is almost entirely YouTube-based. Her channel, to which she adds new comedic and music videos every Tuesday, has 412,666 subscribers, and her videos have collected more than 42 million views. She has two other channels that are growing, too, including one focused on fashion and beauty.

Southern makes a living in Los Angeles taking some traditional television roles but mostly from consulting jobs and brand integration deals she gets based on her YouTube popularity.

A big online following is almost essential for young people hoping to break into the entertainment industry, Southern said.

“It just feels like in entertainment these days, if you don’t work on building an audience, it’s harder to break in because you’re now competing against celebrities that own their own audience,” she said.

5. Anybody can be a star

YouTube also has created thousands of celebrities who find pockets of fame that don’t necessarily translate into online careers but put them in a life-changing spotlight.

The Wichita cat engineers fall into this category, as does Trick Shot Titus, the 4-year-old son of local radio talk-show host Joseph Ashby.

Titus shoots ball like an NBA star. Maybe even better. And he has mega-popular YouTube videos to prove it.

He could shoot the ball with amazing accuracy from the time he could walk, Ashby said, and his parents would entertain dinner guests with his skills. Ashby, an engineer who’s always had filmmaking aspirations, put together a three-minute video showing Titus, from age 18 months to 24 months, sinking unlikely shots into toy basketball hoops and real basketball hoops. Ashby posted the video on Super Bowl Sunday in 2013.

The video was picked up by a couple of national sites and by the end of the night had more than 8,000 views. By the next day, it had 850,000. Today, the video sits at nearly 15 million views.

The offers started pouring in. Titus appeared on Jimmy Kimmel, “Fox & Friends” and the “Today” show. He met Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Channing Tatum and Bradley Cooper. He and his parents flew to Spain, Argentina and Japan to appear on television shows.

Ashby has released several more Titus videos, and one of them – featuring Titus chatting with Tatum and Cooper – got even more views than the first, more than 18 million to date. Another popular Titus video shows Ashby negotiating his son’s future with Wichita State University coach Gregg Marshall.

YouTube is fascinating, Ashby said, because you never know what will take off and what won’t.

“YouTube certainly is a merit-based business,” he said. “But if you’re good enough, no one can stop you.”

6. It’s a how-to heaven

YouTube can help you make, cook, construct or fix almost anything.

Videos exist that can teach woodworking, origami making and chocolate chip cookie baking.

You can find instructions on something as specific as replacing the battery in your car’s key fob to something as general as lighting your pilot light.

The Internet is now catching up to plumbers, electricians and wood-shop teachers, too.

“We see a ton of how-tos on YouTube,” said media expert Halegoua, who admits she uses YouTube for how-to instruction herself. “I bought dried fava beans on a whim and thought, ‘Oh what do I do now?’ And I’ve even used it for housing appliance kind of stuff too. ‘How do I clean that thing on the bottom of the refrigerator?’”

7. You’ve never looked so good

Before YouTube, who knew the world had so many beauty experts?

Self-proclaimed hair and makeup experts take up a whole lot of YouTube real estate.

Some are teenage girls giggling with their cosmetic bags. Others are bona fide beauty stars who made their names on YouTube.

Perhaps the most famous is Michelle Phan, a 27-year-old from Boston whose how-to-apply-makeup videos have earned her more than 7 million YouTube subscribers. As a result of her online celebrity, she got her own makeup line with Lancome.

And there’s also Bethany Mota, a 19-year-old from California who earned fame with her adorable videos featuring hair, makeup and fashion tips, DIY projects, cooking segments and more. She now has her own fashion line and was cast on the most recent season of “Dancing With the Stars.” (She finished fourth.) Her YouTube channel has more than 8 million subscribers.

8. Nostalgia.com

If you grew up in the 1980s, do yourself a favor.

Never search “Commercials from the 1980s” while at work. Your production will immediately cease as you get lost in hours of the Dunkin’ Donuts Guy, pantyhose pitches and Tab Cola jingles.

Same goes for children of the ’60s, ’70s and ’90s.

YouTube is overflowing with clips that will take you on a journey of nostalgia. And it’s not just commercials. YouTube also has thousands of movie clips, like the final scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the wedding scene in “Sixteen Candles,” as well as full episodes of favorite television shows, from “Leave It to Beaver” to “The Waltons” to “The Little Rascals.”

Halegoua said she regularly turns to YouTube when she’s teaches classes about television. Often, shows she wants her students to see are hard to find anywhere else.

“There’s tons of really old shows even from the 1950s on YouTube,” she said. “Shows like ‘Burns and Allen’ and ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy.’”

9. All-out weirdness

Some of the things that are on YouTube defy explanation or classification.

It did, after all, start with the slogan “Broadcast Yourself.” And all sorts of weirdos do.

A man screaming horrifically as he dances around his room and sprays milk from his mouth. An earnest woman who is accidentally hilarious as she demonstrates “Prancercise.” A herd of cows dancing to techno music. A little girl dancing up and down the aisles of grocery stores wearing only a pair of giant pajama pants pulled up to her shoulders, giving her a creepy, spider-like appearance.

One of the weirdest things on YouTube is also one of the most popular. DC Toys Collector has around 3.6 million subscribers who watch as she opens, assembles and plays with new toys, providing narration in a soft, almost child-like voice. All the viewers see of the woman are her perfectly polished fingernails.

Can’t sleep? Just search the Internet for “Weird YouTube videos.”

10. You

Of course you put the You in YouTube, and one of its most attractive qualities is that it archives your personal footage, no matter how simple or involved it is.

It gives everyday people a platform for sharing videos of their cute kids with friends and family. It lets newbies experiment with increasingly sophisticated movie-making software and post the results for an audience. It captures the crazy kid jumping around his room screaming and spitting milk, if that’s what makes him happy.

“YouTube emerged at a time when we were already doing some of the things we are doing on YouTube now, only not on YouTube,” Halegoua said.“It’s sort of representative of what we were hoping to do with media, and it emerged at a time when it met these social needs.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2015 at 5:30 PM with the headline "YouTube turns 10: How the site has changed our lives."