Buzz
Many of the most popular websites and apps today had entirely different beginnings. If things had gone as initially planned, you’d be visiting YouTube to find dates rather than Tinder or whatever platform you’re using now.
However, fate often took a different turn for these founders. While they had clear visions, many watched as their original concepts floundered, with only parts of them succeeding. Platforms like eBay ended up evolving into something completely new.
10. YouTube Started As A Dating Service
At its inception in 2005, YouTube was meant to be a platform for people to upload videos introducing themselves to potential partners. Founders Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, and Chad Hurley hoped users would share what they sought in a spouse, but the site quickly transformed into the video-sharing giant we know today.
Staying true to their original vision, the founders used the tagline, “Tune in, Hook up” for their website. Despite offering $20 to any woman who uploaded a video, no one took up the challenge. Eventually, they broadened the site’s focus to allow people to upload videos on any topic.
Jawed Karim, one of YouTube's co-founders, broke the ice by uploading an 18-second video of himself at the zoo. As of now, this video, titled 'Me At The Zoo,' has garnered over 79 million views and 3.8 million comments.
Related: 10 Disturbing Channels From The Strange Side of YouTube
9. Instagram Was Originally Designed for Social Gatherings
The name Instagram has a backstory. Kevin Systrom, who founded Burbn, was a fan of bourbon whiskey and thought it fitting to name his platform after it. The app’s original purpose was to organize meet-ups—users could check into locations, plan future visits with friends, and share photos of their gatherings.
Burbn quickly failed because it was overly complicated. However, Systrom observed that users were primarily interested in sharing photos from their meet-ups rather than using the other features. He teamed up with Mike Krieger, and together they simplified the concept into what would become Instagram.
Systrom learned from Burbn’s failure and focused on making Instagram as straightforward as possible. They stripped away everything from Burbn except for the photo-sharing, commenting, and liking functions. That’s why Instagram has the sleek, user-friendly interface it’s known for.
Related: 9 Sinister Facts About The Dark Side Of Instagram [WARNING: Disturbing]
8. WhatsApp Was Initially Designed to Be a Phonebook with Personality
In January 2009, Jan Koum got his hands on an iPhone and was inspired to create an app that would let people add a status next to their names. The idea was to let users share updates with potential callers, like their location or a simple ‘battery low’ message when their phone was about to die.
Koum named the app WhatsApp because it sounded similar to 'What’s Up.' However, the app didn’t take off initially, and Koum even considered quitting. It wasn’t until Apple introduced push notifications in June 2009 that WhatsApp gained popularity. These notifications allowed users to instantly know when someone updated their status.
Koum soon noticed that WhatsApp users were often updating their status as a form of communication, resembling instant messaging. Recognizing this trend, he went back to the drawing board, and shortly after, WhatsApp version 2.0 was released.
Related: 10 Final Messages From People Facing Certain Death
7. Wikipedia Nearly Displayed Ads
Wikipedia’s success is largely due to its users who contribute content for free. However, the site still faces significant costs. It needs to pay for its programmers, hosting services, and cover other operational expenses. Plus, dealing with lawsuits is an unavoidable part of running a platform like Wikipedia.
This meant Wikipedia needed to find a way to generate revenue. Initially, founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger planned to make money through paid advertisements, the kind you see on most websites today. Their goal was to cover salaries and hosting expenses, even if they didn’t turn a profit.
Luckily for users seeking information, Wikipedia chose the non-profit route after Sanger left in 2002. Wales made the decision to never display ads and instead fund the site through donations.
The management of Wikipedia was transferred from Bomis, the company handling it at the time, to the Wikimedia Foundation. Both Bomis, a for-profit company, and the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit, were owned by Jimmy Wales. Reflecting its new mission, the site also switched its domain from .com to .org.
Related: Top 15 Funny and Bizarre Wikipedia Pages
6. eBay Was Originally Created For Trading Pez Dispensers
Pamela had told Pierre about her struggles to find people who were selling their Pez dispensers. Inspired by this, Omidyar launched a small online marketplace on his personal website on Labor Day (September 4, 1995). Pamela and other Pez dispenser enthusiasts used the site to connect with sellers.
However, Pierre quickly realized that people were starting to sell everything from dolls to household goods. Within five months, Pierre’s mini marketplace grew to be worth $3 billion with over 2 million users. It had expanded so much that he had to move it to its own dedicated domain, which we now know as eBay.
Related: 10 Bizarre eBay Auctions
To attract his first users, Mark Zuckerberg hacked into Harvard’s database to steal photos from student IDs. The website only lasted a few days before Harvard’s administration shut it down. Mark faced expulsion but was spared when the charges were dropped.
4. Flickr Was Meant to Include a Chat Room
On February 10, 2004, at the O’Reilly Emerging Tech Conference in San Diego, Butterfield and Fake introduced what would eventually become Flickr. At that time, Flickr was still in its developmental phase and wasn’t even their primary focus. Their main product was a virtual game called 'Game Neverending,' and Flickr was just a side project.
The couple later decided to pivot and focus entirely on the photo-sharing platform when they recognized its potential. However, they decided to remove the chat functionality. Meanwhile, 'Game Neverending' never made it past the development phase.
Related: 10 Strange But Interesting Early Photography Fads
3. Amazon Initially Sold Only Books
For its first three years, Amazon was exclusively a bookstore. It wasn’t until 1998 that Jeff Bezos began expanding the company. On August 5, 1998, The New York Times reported that Amazon had acquired Junglee Corporation, an ecommerce and software company that ran a price comparison site and online marketplace. You could think of Junglee as the Amazon of 1998.
Amazon also acquired Planet All, an address book and social networking service that had 1.5 million users. At that time, Amazon had 3.1 million users. In the same period, Amazon announced plans to allow third-party vendors to advertise their products on the platform.
Related: Top 10 Bizarre Things You Can Buy on Amazon
2. FaceTime Was Originally Designed To Enable Phone Calls from Macs
A year later, Garcia transformed Venice into Game Kit, an iPhone app that let users video chat while playing online games. This time, he and his team succeeded. Game Kit was incorporated into Apple’s Game Center in 2009.
However, the video calling feature of Game Center (originally Game Kit) was eventually spun off to become the first version of FaceTime.
Related: Top 10 Most Important Apps Of The Decade
1. Tweets Were Originally Meant to Be Sent Via SMS
Related: Top 10 Ridiculous Instances Of Censorship In Pop Culture
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