I often tell me entrepreneur clients that a good web idea is a quicker and easier way to wealth than any other source - even winning the lottery. Let's take YouTube as a case in point.

YouTube turned 5 on Valentine's Day 2010. That's right... only 5!

The video upload and sharing website has 1 billion views of its videos EVERY SINGLE DAY, and it is only 5 years old!

When it entered the market in February 2005, YouTube fought its way to the top in its game via clever decision-making on making their product more accessible and more frequented than any other.

In October 2006, a mere 18 months later, the original founders sold to Google for US$1.65billion (AU$1.9billion).

Since 2006, YouTube has played a key role in shaping world history via the web. It has been used to report on wars media previously neglected and other taboo issues like rorted elections around the world.

When Barack Obama made history as the first African-American president of the United States, YouTube helped him win votes and capture the imagination of voters.

As recently as last month, YouTube served the Haiti Earthquake Appeal song - remake of WE ARE THE WORLD - sung by some of the world's biggest stars including Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Snoop Dog, Lil Wayne, LL Cool J, Wyclef Jean, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Hudson, and more...

YouTube helped raise millions for this and other causes.

Today, 5 years later, this all-powerful new media source is worth far more than the US$1.65billion (AU$1.9million) that Google paid for it.

See Haiti video below:

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