Tech Crunch just released an article on Sunday night that claims YouTube, the most popular video sharing site in the world, will close on Monday, April 1. The Web site explained that YouTube started as a competition and the portal is now deciding the winner of that alleged contest as part of the closing down.

Before you panic, consider the following. Monday is April 1, more known as April Fools' Day and YouTube has a tradition of pulling such pranks every year since 2008.

The Tech Crunch article even had an alleged YouTube video titled testifying to shuttering down YouTube's ready to select a winner. Here is the link to the Tech Crunch article: http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/31/youtube-announces-that-it-has-been-an-8-year-contest-will-shut-down-on-april-1-to-determine-the-winner/

A check with YouTube by typing the title of that alleged video yielded no posting in the video sharing site that in March just reported reaching 1 billion hits daily.

A double check with Wikipedia on the history of the establishment of the site based on a competition also showed no such entry. In the Tech Crunch article, it said, "The platform launched eight years ago, and some of us have gotten so distracted by YouTube videos that we've forgotten that the whole thing is actually a competition. Or, YouTube never actually mentioned that it is a competition. Either way, that competition, called YouTube, is coming to a close."

However, the clincher comes at the end of the article which stated, "Perhaps this yet another step in streamlining its offerings.

"OR, April Fools apparently happens one day early in Mountain View J"

Just for the record, the following were YouTube's yearly April Fools' pranks:

2008 - It redirected all videos on the main page to Rick Astley's music video Never Gonne Give You Up, and called the prank Rickrolling.

2009 - Whenever users click a video on the main page, the whole page turns upside down, which YouTube explained was a new layout.

2010 - All colours in videos were translated to random upper cases by YouTube's temporary relief of a TEXTp mode. The portal then claimed it was necessary to cut bandwidth cost by $1 per second.

2011 - Though established only in 2005, the site claimed to be celebrating its 100th anniversary with a 1911 button and it show several sepia-toned silent videos that were common in the early 1990s, including Flugelhorn Feline which is a parody of Keyboard Cat.

2012 - When users clicked the image of a DVD beside the YouTube logo, it opens to a video about The YouTube Collection which provided an option to order every YouTube video on DVD, videocassette, Laserdisc or Betamax tape for home delivery.

Need we say more? Happy April Fools' Day!