TEDTalks: 5 years and 500 million served
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On June 27, 2006, we flipped the switch on TEDTalks, bringing talks from TED to the world for the first time. It was early days for online video — YouTube was just a year old; the video iPod had been around for six months — so we launched with six talks and modest goals, and have been amazed by what’s happened since. Five years and nearly 1,000 videos later, TEDTalks have been watched 500 million times, and translated into 81 languages by volunteers worldwide.
In fact, we’ve seen a number of key milestones in the last month: We welcomed our millionth fan on Facebook and our millionth iPad app download, and marked the 2000th TEDx event.
We’re filled with gratitude for the global community that has made all of this possible: the TEDx organizers, the translators, the corporate partners who support our work, the speakers who offered the world their words, and the wider TED community, who amplify the talks, and continually energize us with their own ideas.
I learned of Jill Bolte Taylor and Sir Ken Robinson via TED and remember vividly when I discovered the talks as podcasts on iTunes the week they became available. The iPod had just gained the ability to play video and I was looking for things to watch on my commute. I am a big fan of TED, I've seen all the talks since that first week and find myself making connections between them. I've compiled various themed "remixes" of talks including:
The Small Details
Statistics
Education
Dance
Listen
Mind, Body & Soul
Storytelling
How Do You Create?
The Meaning of Work
The Meaning of Life
Mystery
Look for more TED remixes in the coming weeks.