Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement YouTube video
Eleven years after Steve Jobs’s commencement speech to the Stanford University’s graduating class of 2005, this video became viral since it was first shared in YouTube back in 2005. Currently the video has 23.8 million views and is receiving daily comments even today. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple and the great influence of innovation, continues to inspire millions of viewers who connect globally to hear this amazing message. In the commencement speech to Stanford’s students, Steve opened up and shared very important and close lessons of his personal life. In this video, Steve Jobs transmits three key lessons that had allowed him to achieve what he achieved. The video’s key messages are:
1. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you do so looking back and trust that they will lead to something good in your future. The dots will connect down the road, and that will make the difference” (Steve Jobs, 2005).
When Steve dropped out of Reed College because he was spending all his parents’ savings, he decided to take a calligraphy course which actually did interest him and felt it was right. Later, 10 years after dropping out Reed College and taking this class, this class impacted the design of the MacIntosh and in general all computers in the world.
2. “Make sure to do great work and love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet (what you love to do), keep looking and don’t settle” ( Steve Jobs, 2005).
With this message, Steve shared his journey of being fired from Apple when he was 30 years old. At that time, he felt rejected and disappointed, but he didn’t let that event to stop him from his dreams. Instead, he started over and created a company called Next and a company called Pixar which became the most successful animation film maker in the world with productions such as “Toy Story”. Apple eventually bought Next, and Steve returned to Apple. With this message, Steve says that sometimes life throws a brick at you. Steve instructs to not lose faith even when this happens and to make this possible you have to love what you do.
3. “Don’t be trapped by dogma. which is living with the results of other people’s thinking and opinions. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition; everything else is secondary. Also, throughout your lifetime, ‘Stay hungry and stay foolish’ (Steve Jobs, 2005).
Steve shared a very personal moment of his life when he was diagnosed with cancer and how this has made him reflect about the time he had left on earth. He points out that our time on earth is limited and that to not waste it living someone else’s life.
When Steve Jobs did this speech at Stanford’s 2005 Commencement, he was not expecting to have this impact of global audience and continue influencing many others until today. This speech communicated by Steve Jobs in the Stanford Commencement back in 2005 has become a revolutionary message of inspiration for many others who look for meaning and purpose to their life goals and work plans.
Why has Steve Jobs’s commencement video become viral?
The title of the YouTube video had five key elements that attracted a lot of viewers. The first one is the fact that it was Steve Jobs, being the founder of Apple and being one of the most influential and innovative business leaders of all time. The second element is the fact that it comes from Stanford, one of the most renowned institutions in the world. The third element is that the speech itself is very influential and encouraging to the Stanford graduates and to people in general. Steve encourages people to love what they do for a living, and this is important for any worker. Loving your work helps you to enjoy your work and to be more productive, and it generates better life satisfaction. Steve also encourages people to take advantage of the opportunity of life and to follow their hearts and intuitions. Ultimately, a person needs to know what he/she wants to become and do what is necessary to get there.
Also, a fourth characteristic about the speech is that Steve shares with us very personal journeys in where most of them started as failure and ended up in success such as Apple and Pixar. By Steve Jobs transmitting his fear of failure and passing through hardships, this helps capture millions of viewers who identify with such journeys and take this video as an inspirational one.
The fifth element is the time of the video. When posting the video and its length, Stanford focuses on the essential content only of Steve’s speech which makes it a total of 15 minutes long, which is different from any other 30 minute or even 1 hour speeches.
Why people have shared Steve Job’s commencement video?
Around 23.8 million viewers around the globe have seen this video, and similar additional videos are seen in Stanford’s YouTube channel. Memes have also been created about this historic moment in the Stanford Commencement ceremony back in 2005.
Many have share this YouTube video because of the great message that it has. This video allows us to see and perceive Steve Jobs’s reaction when he was sharing his story at the commencement. He sounded sincere and passionate about his subject matter. In addition, the speech provides inspiration, motivation, and encouragement for many people across the world, and it inspires people to share it with others. People have disappointments now and then, and it is important for them to realize that brighter days are ahead and to keep working hard to make their dreams come true. This video helps to accomplish this. People also like to hear that they need to take advantage of their lives and do great things and to not let anything stand in their way. Again, coming from a Stanford graduation and featuring Steve Jobs were two major selling points of this video.
Also, this speech comes from Stanford University’s YouTube channel, so many other Stanford graduates and current Stanford students (who both stay up-to-date with their university) came across the video and have been able to share it with other fellow students and professors.
Finally, many followers of Apple, Pixar, and Steve Jobs have shared this video as a way to support Steve Jobs and show support for his message.
Importance of Social Media Management
Stanford University has done well with employing a YouTube channel to get its messages across and enabling people to subscribe to it. YouTube is one of the most popular source of videos on the Internet, used by millions of people everywhere in the United States and around the world, especially in 2005 when many of the latest technology platforms such as Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram were not yet active. Many other Stanford graduates and current Stanford students (who both stay up-to-date with their university), as well as hope-to-be Stanford students, were able to discover this video and other Stanford commencement videos and view them to generate inspiration for their lives. This video with Steve Jobs has over 20 million views, and the channel has over 500,000 people subscribed.
Furthermore, by Stanford posting this YouTube video, Stanford was able to capture a global audience and not just its university affiliated community, which becomes more beneficial for all. Also, Stanford has done well with enabling the video to be published on other social media platforms as well such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. A lot of views probably came from people that noticed the video when logging into a social media site such as one of these and seeing the video as an entry on their news feed coming from a friend’s profile.
Also, this video brings branding to Stanford, in where it connects Stanford with the top and inspirational leaders of the world. This allows the video to be known not only as a video of Steve Jobs but also as a video of Stanford, connecting Steve Jobs directly with Stanford and giving Stanford this brand of inspiration and authenticity.
Reference Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
Lisette Ludena, MBA 2016
