It's YouTube's 7th birthday... and you’ve outdone yourselves, again

In May 2005 we first shared YouTube with the world. Seven years later, you’re the ones doing the sharing! We’re so honored that you’ve used YouTube to share how-to tips, political moments, home videos, comedy, music, and so much more.

Last year to celebrate our birthday, we wrote you, the YouTube Community, a thank you note for making our first 6 years so special. And on that birthday you gave us a great present by reaching a record rate of 48 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute. Well Community, this year, on our 7th birthday, you’ve outdone yourselves once again.

Today 72 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute. Like many 7 year olds around the world, we’re growing up so fast! In other words, every single minute you now upload three whole days worth of video instead of two. That's 61 Royal Wedding Ceremonies, 841 Bad Romances, and 1,194 Nyan Cats.

We’ve come along way in the past 7 years. What started as a handful of videos shared among friends has transformed into a global platform delivering the next generation of channels to anyone, anywhere, and on any device. This last year was especially big for us. We helped bring more great channels to YouTube and we redesigned the site, making it easier for you to discover, watch and subscribe to the videos you love. And all 800 million of you all over the world have shown us we’re on the right track by increasing subscriptions 50% and watching over 3 billion hours a month.

Behind the tens of millions of channels on YouTube featuring talented filmmakers, home videos, skateboarding tricks, music, and car enthusiasts there has always been one consistent voice: you. Throughout our seven years you’ve made the YouTube community what it is. Thank you!



The YouTube Team, recently watched “"How to" throw the PERFECT *Princess Birthday Party*

You asked for it! Here are your 16 Next Vloggers...

Since launching, YouTube Next Creator has helped chefs cook up better videos, trainers get more people into shape and non-profits extend the reach of their causes. So figuring out which category to tackle, well, next, was a bit of a challenge. Rather than deciding ourselves, we asked you to make the tough decision for us. With a resounding cry, you told us, “BRING US NEXT VLOGGER!”

Not only is vlogging one of the most popular forms of expression on YouTube, but selecting Next Vlogger also resulted in more applications than we’ve received for any previous Next Creator program. Bravo! Although, that still left us with some tough decisions...

After much debate and many sleepless nights, we’re excited to introduce you to the 16 Next Vloggers:




From sports recaps to music parodies, book reviews to space lions, gaming tips to Smurf collecting, advice and self-empowerment to Pokemon mastery, and even some stuff that can’t be categorized, these vloggers--like the art of vlogging--literally touch on every content category.

Fun bunch, huh? In total, they’ve racked up more than 125 million views. Not a shabby start, but like most YouTube creators, they’re eager to reach even more people. To help them get there, the Next Vloggers will participate in three months of trainings via Google+ Hangouts, including mentoring from top YouTube vloggers and content creators, iJustine and Natalie Tran from communitychannel, and receive $5,000 worth of video equipment and $10,000 worth of promotion on and off YouTube. Subscribe to their channels to follow them on their journey over the next few months and beyond.

Not a vlogger but still want to gain some skills to help you go from zero to hero...views? You’re in luck because we’re kicking off some rad YouTube Creator Workshops that cover a wide range of topics from “Introduction to Cinematography” to “Improving Your Channel with YouTube Analytics.” You can check out the YouTube Creator Events site to see the calendar of workshops that you can attend via Google+ Hangouts on Air from the YouTube Creators page.

Vlog on!

Austin Lau & Bing Chen, Global YouTube Creator program managers, recently watched “YouTube's Next Vlogger!”.