With the advent of amazing technology comes a seemingly infinite opportunity to create something viral that could set the Internet on its axis at any time.
In 2013 alone we experienced at least 50 viral videos contending to be the best, according to Daily Motion. Fifty! Not to mention videos that set memes into motion like The Harlem Shake and the girl who caught fire while twerking. (Which ended up being a hoax).
But remember the good old days? In 2005, the launch of YouTube was also the beginning of the golden era for some of the first and best viral videos to ever hit the Internet.
There was very little way to share the videos we found — you couldn't post videos on your Facebook wall (and not everyone had Facebook yet), there was no Twitter, there was no BuzzFeed. Most importantly, people weren't employed yet solely to scour the Internet looking for these things.
By chance, videos like "OMG Shoes" and "The Laughing Baby" ended up being shared in AOL Instant Message conversations or at dorm room parties in college. And they could stay funny for what seemed like forever.
Here are some of our old favorites: