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One of the most remarkable success stories of the Internet is the popular video-sharing website called YouTube. This story began in January 2005 at a dinner party in San Francisco. At the party, three young men, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Taiwan-born Steve Chen, were chatting about how to share homemade videos online. At that time, videos were difficult to upload and usually too big to be sent via e-mail.

Working in a garage, the three began developing a new website. Their aim was to make it easy for users to upload short homemade videos and watch them online. They named their website YouTube, which basically means “your television.” In other words, it was going to be a place where anyone can show videos and films that they have made themselves. Very soon, people began to put many interesting and funny videos on YouTube. As it didn’t cost anything, word about the fun new site quickly spread.

YouTube grew so quickly that, in less than two years, more than 100 million videos were being viewed on the site every day. All kinds of video clips were being uploaded, from music and comedy to silly messages from people trying to promote themselves. Sometimes people put up videos taken on cell phones of strange or amusing behavior on the streets. One early example that achieved worldwide fame was “Bus Uncle,” which featured a loud argument between two bus passengers on a bus in Hong Kong. The video led to many discussions in newspapers and on television.

In 2006 Hurley, Karim, and Chen sold the YouTube site to Internet superpower Google for US$1.65 billion. That was a remarkable price to pay for a company that didn’t even exist two years earlier. But under its new owners, the site has continued to grow in popularity. Some people have become global celebrities as a result of appearing in YouTube videos. The site is also a huge commercial success, with many advertisers using it to promote their products.

For the first few years, uploading videos was just an online pastime for YouTube users. Now, for a growing number, it is a way to make a living. A couple of years ago, YouTube began inviting some of its members to become “partners,” by allowing the site to add advertising to their videos. Partners can receive a share of the revenue, and the more people view their videos, the more money they receive. Some earn more than US$100,000 a year, and for a lucky few, making entertaining videos has become a full-time job.

Perhaps you are someone who regularly gets their kicks from watching funny videos on YouTube. If so, maybe you should consider making and uploading your own stuff. You never know, you might turn into an overnight YouTube sensation, and you might even make some money as well.

網路最卓越成功的故事之一是受歡迎的影音網站YouTube 。這個故事始於二○○五年一月在舊金山的一場晚宴。在晚宴中，三個年輕人查德．赫林、賈維德．卡里姆、以及台灣出生的陳士駿聊到如何上網分享自拍影片。在那時候影片很難上傳，而且通常檔案太大而無法用電子郵件送出。

這三個人在車庫裡工作，開始發展出新的網站。他們的目標是要讓使用者容易上傳自拍短片並在線上觀賞。他們將網站命名YouTube ，基本的意思是「你的電視」；換句話說，它將是任何人都可以播放自拍影片的地方。很快地，人們開始將有趣且好玩的影片放在YouTube ，因為不需要任何花費，關於這個有趣新網站的消息很快就傳播開來。

YouTube 成長的如此之快，以致於在短短不到兩年的時間，每天有超過一億部影片在這個網站被觀看。各式各樣的短片上傳到網站，範圍從音樂、喜劇到想要自我行銷者的短片都有。有時候人們會用手機拍街上稀奇或有趣行為並上傳網站。一個早期全球出名的例子是「巴士大叔」的影片，該片呈現香港的公車上兩名乘客大聲爭吵的內容。這段影片在報紙及電視上引發熱烈的討論。

二○○六年赫林、卡里姆以及陳士駿以十六億五千萬美元將YouTube 賣給網路超強企業谷歌，對一家兩年前根本不存在的公司，那是很大的一筆金額。

但在新的買主的經營下，網站的人氣仍持續成長，有些人因為出現在YouTube 的影片而成為紅遍全球的名人，這個網站在廣告方面也相當成功，因為很多廣告商利用它來促銷產品。

剛開始的幾年， YouTube 使用者僅把上傳影片當成是網路休閒活動。現在，有越來越多人把上傳影片當成是一種謀生方式。幾年前， YouTube 開始邀請一些會員成為它的「合夥人」，允許網站在他們的短片上加上廣告。合夥人可以分到廣告收益，而且越多人觀看他們的影片，他們收到的錢也越多。有些人一年賺超過十萬美金，有一些幸運的人，製作娛樂性的影片已經變成全職的工作。

或許你就是那種收看YouTube 好玩的影片來找樂子的人，如果真是如此，或許你應該考慮製作或上傳你自己的東西。搞不好你會變成YouTube 一夕爆紅的人物，而且你也可能會賺到一些錢。

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