So YouTube was just a big contest? YouTube announced that the web site will be closed to new submissions as of March 31, at which point they will be selecting a winner, via a panel of judges, to determine the "Best Video."
"We started YouTube in 2005 as a contest with a simple goal: to find the best video in the world," announced YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar.
"It's finally time to pick the winner," a Tim Listin, credited as the "competition director" announced in a video on its homepage. Beginning at 9 a.m. on April 1, they will broadcast a live ceremony where they will begin announcing the nominees. They will resume announcements every 12 hours every day for the next two years.
"Thank you for sharing your creativity, irreverence, ideas and knowledge with us and with viewers around the world," the company posted on its web site.
The panel of judges will include those made famous by their YouTube videos, such as Antoine Dodson of "Bed Intruder Song" fame and iJustine. "I encourage everybody to watch as many videos as possible before YouTube deletes everything tonight," said Dodson.
Of course, it should be noted that this contest is beginning on April 1, otherwise known as April Fool's Day.
Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. Google has a reputation for enjoying good April Fool's Day pranks.
Past pranks include changing its name to Topeka and saying it was releasing a service called Google Paper, which would send you printed copies of all your emails. The joke for 2013 is the announcement of "Google Nose," a search service powered by smell.
YouTube was launched in 2005. Since then, it has gradually added professional content to its collection of creative and sometimes silly amateur offerings, such as full-length movies and television shows as a way to attract advertisers.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
