Meow the Ninth – Cat Content
When did the word “cat content” first hit people’s consciousness? Maybe online research gives some answers.
According to the German newspaper Die Zeit, the first cat content story appeared in 1994 with Socks, the White House Cat, sitting on the speaker’s podium apparently ready for a press conference.
On the internet, cats found their first fame as so-called lolcats with “icanhazcheesburger” in 2007. Since then cats have been featuring on the net with enormous success, which comes somewhat as a surprise, since internet fads normally disappear after a while. For more information on lolcats, see Kate Miltner’s dissertation (see Section Cats on the Net).
Now cat videos and memes are more than entertaining. They have an economic factor, too, and memes, like Grumpy Cat, have now turned into a successful brand. (Cat Cash: The Economy of Internet Cat Videos”) Cat videos, memes, and pictures have continuously high viewing figures, likes, comments, and shares, which is something some companies can only dream of. (5 Fakten, warum Katzencontent auf Facebook auch in Deutschland ein Hit ist)
In German the word “Katzenkontent” is used alongside “cat content”. In Russian the word “кошкоконтент” (koshkokontent; Мяю-фактор – Meow Factor) was suggested, but search engines hardly come up with any hits.
Update: The Russian word for “cat content” is “котэфилия” (kotefiliya).
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Meow Factor (March 22, 2014). Meow the Ninth – Cat Content. Meow Factor. Retrieved June 12, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/rdph
it interesting how lolcats became widely adored as well as the general increase of cat popularity on the net
maybe people are secretly jealous of cats, their self-sufficiency and equanimity 🙂
I, too,think it is interesting. I have yet to analyse Kate Miltner’s thesis in more detail. 🙂
it interesting how lolcats became widely adored as well as the general increase of cat popularity on the net
maybe people are secretly jealous of cats, their self-sufficiency and equanimity 🙂
I, too,think it is interesting. I have yet to analyse Kate Miltner’s thesis in more detail. 🙂