How cute! 10 percent of pets are on social networks

By Jeffrey Van Camp July 13, 2011

facebook-boo-dog — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Fair warning: this dog is insanely cute.

A new study suggests that more than 1 in 10 U.K. pets have a profile on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Commissioned by PetPlan, a pet insurance company, the study suggests that animals may be more popular than celebrities and just about anything else on social networking sites. And if a pet doesn’t have a social networking profile yet, its pictures are probably already on one. More than half of U.K. pet owners share photos of their pets online, reports The Telegraph.

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“…animals are more popular than celebrities on Facebook and other social networking sites,” said Neil Brettell, director of insurer PetPlan.

We were unable to find a detailed copy of the study to see what other conclusions it draws and report its sample size and methods, so we cannot verify this information, but we can definitely say that pets sure are extremely popular here in the U.S. The picture you see above is Boo, a dog that has 1.4 million friends (Likes) on Facebook. He even has a book coming out called “Boo: The Life of the World’s Cutest Dog.” It seems Facebook can bring out the business minds of pet owners as well.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Telegraph describes the trend of giving pets their own social profiles as social “petworking.” Even Google+, a social networking site that is still in beta, already has a few dog profiles like Beagle D. Dog, a dog that wears a stylin’ pair of headphones. Even our own Andrew Couts has been known to post a few things online about his dog. Have you made a profile for your pet?

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Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Digital Trends Contributor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

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