If you’re a YouTube user, you likely know it was developed by three former PayPal employees: Chard Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim.
Their initial idea was to make YouTube a dating site comparable to the famous site Hot or Not, but the vision did not materialize as they couldn’t get enough women to post videos on the site.
Most YouTube users have also heard about the first video posted on the platform, a Zoo video by one of the founders, Jawed Karim, but some have never heard of the second video.
So, what was the second video on YouTube?
The second video on YouTube is ‘My Snowboarding Skillz.’ It is a video of someone attempting to snowboard on a ramp and failing. Because it was uploaded a few hours after Jawed Karim’s ‘Me at The Zoo’ video, ‘My Snowboarding Skills’ is considered the pioneer of ‘failed’ videos.
‘Failed’ video is a genre of videos about people performing a specific activity, in most cases, a sport or physical activity, and failing. This video was posted by the MW, who didn’t post other videos after. The video has over 3 million views and 25 thousand comments.
This post shares the history of the oldest videos on YouTube, including the less-known second video on the platform.
Overview of The Second Video on YouTube.
As mentioned earlier, the second video on YouTube is ‘My Snowboarding Skillz’ posted by the user mw on April 23, 2005, a few hours after Jawed Karim, YouTube co-founder, published the first video of him at a San Diego Zoo.
The ‘My Snowboarding Skillz’ video is considered the first ‘fail’ video, showing someone attempting to snowboard on a ramp and failing.
Fail videos are currently a popular entertainment genre with thousands of dedicated channels on YouTube.
In the next section, we’ll cover the third to tenth video on YouTube.
Oldest Videos on YouTube
Now that you know the first and second YouTube videos, let’s get into other older YouTube videos.
Tribute
Tribute is the third YouTube video, uploaded the second day after the platform went online. This video was posted by the user gp, who’s had no other activity on the account since.
In the tribute video, you’ll see a man jumping up and down, screaming. After a few seconds, the cameraman chuckles, saying ‘very nice.’ This video is only 5 seconds, making it hard to tell what is happening accurately.
One of Tribute’s top comments says the video inspired the video genre ‘vines,’ short funny videos shared on the Vines platform discontinued in January 2017. Tribute has over 1.7 million views and seven thousand comments.
Premature Baldness
Premature Baldness is the fourth YouTube video. It was posted a few days after YouTube became operational.
This video shows a man called Paul getting a bald patch on his head at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. This was the first of a series of videos from the same user attempting to see what he would look like at 50 years.
The premature baldness video is unlisted but available to watch via direct link.
Carrie Rides a Truck
Carrie Rides a Truck was uploaded by the user Jones4Carrie on April 30, 2005, a week after YouTube launched.
Of all the older YouTube videos, this one has the poorest quality as it is blurry and dark with no sound.
Still, you can tell it is a video of a young girl operating a tiny truck meant for kids. The video is 15 seconds long and has over 472 thousand views and two thousand comments.
Cybergoon Squad
Cybergoon Squad is a short-animated video of a robotic woman walking with two smaller robots. The video has decent quality compared to others uploaded within the same period.
It has a short description that reads, “pissed off babe and her escorts strolling.”
The Cybergoon Squad video was uploaded by the user Greg in May 2005. He has other short animated videos on his channel. Cybergoon Squad is considered the first animated video to be uploaded on YouTube.
Summary
The second video on YouTube is ‘My Snowboarding Skillz,’ a video of a young man attempting to snowboard on a ramp and failing.
It was uploaded by mw on April 23, 2005, a few hours after Jawed Karim, YouTube co-founder, posted the first video of him at a San Diego Zoo.
My Snowboarding Skills pioneered the ‘failed’ video genre that shows people attempting different sports or physical activities and failing.
