Who or more accurately what is the most popular eight-year-old on the planet?

The video-sharing website YouTube, of course, though it’s growing even faster than your average eight-year-old, which is really saying something.

A creation of three former PayPal employees in early 2005, the site allows users to upload, share and view various videos from genres such as movies, television programs, sports and comedy. A majority of the Google-owned (since Nov. 2006) company’s videos are user uploaded, though CBS the BBC and Hulu, along with other companies, contribute material through a partnership.

To say the site has had an impact would be like commenting that Donald Trump’s hair is “unique.” YouTube reported that users were uploading an average of 72 hours of video per minute last year up from 48 hours of video per minute from the previous year from the San Bruno, CA. based company.

The enormity of YouTube has allowed for spawn to be created, as well, including the betaworks company Telecast, which makes the billions of videos discoverable on mobile devices. In recent years, YouTube has started an online film service and streaming of live events, including cricket.

Not everyone feels positively toward YouTube however, including a “Mr. Black”, who criticized the company for being a shill for Disney and other corporations as a way to promote their products and services. He also didn’t care for what he considered censorship by the company.

“It is clear that because of the inability to handle your business properly, we’ve had to pay for all of your incompetence with business negotiations. And now you’re selling the YouTube users out to big companies like Disney, and you think that we are just going to lie down and take it. I don’t think so!” Mr. Black said in a 2009 video statement.

His complaint drew some notice, as 700 users initially uploaded his video according to Yahoo! contributor Anthony Jesmok.

YouTube, which had $200 million in revenue in 2008 according to Forbes magazine and is currently approaching $3 billion according to some analysts, paid homage to its users with this message on its website over the weekend.

“And so, on our eighth birthday, we’d like to thank you for making YouTube the special place that it is. For showing us how video can create connections, transcend borders and make a difference. For clicking these links even if you aren’t sure what they’ll be, but you trust us. In short, thanks for making us better in big ways and small ones, too. We can’t wait to see what you come up with next.”