• ReadWriteWeb, Wednesday, May 25, 2011 12:01 PM

Inspired by YouTube's sixth birthday, everyone's trying to wrap their heads around the video portal's ginormous size. "How big is YouTube?" asks ReadWriteWeb. "It's biiiiig. 3 billion views per day big," which just so happens to represent a 50% increase year-over-year. Not impressed yet? According to new data released by Google, YouTube users now upload more than 48 hours of videos every minute. As ReadWriteWeb notes, "This represents a 37% increase over the last six months and a 100% increase over last year." What can happen in two days, you ask?

As Google points out, "You could drive non-stop across the country from our office in San Bruno, Calif., to New York City." What else? "You could undertake a massive movie marathon by watching the entire "Back to the Future" trilogy eight and a half times (we'd recommend you do that at YouTube Movies)." How did YouTube get so big?

For one, "by delivering the diversity and quality of content its users want," notes ReadWriteWeb. Google also mentions that faster uploads, support for longer videos and the recent launch of self-service live streaming to its partners have also had a positive impact on viewing trends.

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