This document provides an overview of YouTube including its creation, early history, growth and usage statistics. Some key points:
- YouTube was founded in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim after being inspired by the inability to share video online.
- It grew rapidly after being funded by the founders' bonuses from the PayPal acquisition. By 2011, YouTube had over 490 million monthly users watching over 92 billion videos per month.
- The site saw early viral hits like the first "Rickroll" in 2007 and has since established an annual April Fools' Day tradition of pranks for its users.