--- title: "5 facts about online video, for YouTube’s 10th birthday" description: "YouTube has become one of the most visited websites in the world. The video-sharing firm says that 100 hours of video are uploaded there every minute." date: "2015-02-12" authors: - name: "Monica Anderson" job_title: "Director, Internet and Technology Research" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/monica-anderson/" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/02/12/5-facts-about-online-video-for-youtubes-10th-birthday/" categories: - "Platforms & Services" - "Social Media" - "Video" - "YouTube" --- # 5 facts about online video, for YouTube’s 10th birthday http://youtu.be/GbR6iQ62v9k On Valentine’s Day 10 years ago, a group of former PayPal employees [founded](https://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/youtube5year/home/short-story-of-youtube) YouTube as an easy way to find and share videos. Today it’s one of the most visited [websites ](http://www.alexa.com/topsites)in the world and is widely used by news organizations, [politicians](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/us/politics/with-youtube-video-obama-looks-to-expand-social-media-reach.html?_r=0) and music artists. (Psy’s [Gangnam Style](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30288542) has over 2 billion views, making it the most watched YouTube video of all time.) Besides big brands, some regular users have amassed a large following. Recently, a [trio of YouTube](http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/01/15/state-younion-youtube-creators-interview-president-obama-live-white-house) content creators interviewed President Barack Obama on his policy goals. Overall, the video-sharing firm says that [100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube *every minute*](https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html). On the company's 10th birthday, here are 5 facts about YouTube and online video sharing: [![2-12-2015 9-39-31 AM](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/02/2-12-2015-9-39-31-AM.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/02/2-12-2015-9-39-31-AM.png) **About three-in-ten online adults (31%) **[**posted a video**](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/10/10/main-findings/)** to a website in 2013**, up from 14% in 2009, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center[ report](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/10/10/main-findings/). Among those who posted a video in 2013, 35% said they did so in hopes that it would be widely viewed or “go viral.” Overall, 72% of online adults use video-sharing sites like YouTube or Vimeo – a figure that more than doubled between 2006 and 2013. **Animals – especially cats – are popular subjects of videos to post online, as are everyday people and events.** Among internet users who posted an original video online in 2013, 45% uploaded their own video of a pet or animal. Some 58% posted a video showing friends and family doing everyday things. Another 56% posted a video of themselves or others doing funny things, while 54% posted a video of an event they attended. But fewer internet users post tutorial videos (30%) or intentionally staged or scripted videos (23%). [![2-12-2015 9-41-27 AM](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/02/2-12-2015-9-41-27-AM.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/02/2-12-2015-9-41-27-AM.png) **YouTube is the second-largest social networking site, behind Facebook.** A 2014 Pew Research Center [study of online adults found](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/political-polarization-media-habits/) that three-quarters (77%) of internet users are on Facebook, while 63% use YouTube. Although YouTube has a smaller reach than Facebook, it is more widely used than LinkedIn (25%), Google Plus (24%) and Twitter (21%). **YouTube is most popular among younger adults, blacks and Hispanics. **Like many social networking sites, YouTube is widely used by younger users – 82% of 18- to 29-year-olds used YouTube in 2014, compared with 34% of those 65 and older. Racial and ethnic differences also exist – blacks (76%) and Hispanics (74%) are more likely than whites (57%) to use the video-sharing site. **Citizens are increasingly using YouTube and other social networking sites to share news-related videos. **Twelve percent of social media users have posted their own video of a [news event](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/03/26/the-audience-for-digital-news-videos/) to a social networking site, according to a Pew Research survey from 2014. In addition, from January 2011 to March 2012, Pew Research [examined](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2012/07/16/youtube-news/) hundreds of the most popular news videos on YouTube and found that close to 40% were produced by non-journalists. Many of these videos chronicled natural disasters or political unrest, like the [Japanese tsunami](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DSSssHxm4Y) or the Arab Spring protests. **Related:** Pew Research's [World Wide Web Timeline](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/03/11/world-wide-web-timeline/)