Karim said the inspiration for YouTube first came from Janet Jackson 's role in the 2004 Super Bowl incident , when her breast was exposed during her performance , and later from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami . Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online , which led to the idea of a video sharing site . Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service , and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not . Difficulty in finding enough dating videos led to a change of plans , with the site 's founders deciding to accept uploads of any type of video
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
YouTube