NYTimes: How Cats Evolved to Win the Internet http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/opinion/sunday/how-cats-evolved-to-win-the-internet.html
Cats aren't the only creatures to thrive online, of course, and dogs actually eclipse them in search traffic. But their viral success is unique. According to data from Buzzfeed, the most popular cat posts get almost quadruple the traffic of the most-clicked dogs. Cat images also have unparalleled staying power. Other creature memes -- the "O Rly" snowy owl, the Socially Awkward Penguin -- tend to rise and fall rather quickly. But cats remain on top, pixelated apex predators whose peaks of online attention last for months or years. Their virtual success is rooted in their real biology. Cats are solitary, asocial hypercarnivores built to do one thing: get meat. The famous cat meme I Can Haz Cheeseburger, in which a gaping gray cat demands a quarter-pounder, had the right idea. Every fiber of the feline being is evolved to hunt, and cats employ a distinctive stalk-and-ambush approach, in which they sit very still and watch for prey to innocently wander by, then explode from the underbrush to slaughter it. This stalking and pouncing is perfect for a six-second Vine or a pithy tweet. Think of your favorite YouTube cat videos: A cat springs into a box, or bops a baby on the head without warning, or rockets out from beneath the bed. What you're watching is an ambush. - - - --Lauren-- Care About Science and Tech? Our Job One: STOP TRUMP: https://vortex.com/stop-trump - - - Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone. - - - The correct term is "Internet" NOT "internet" -- please don't fall into the trap of using the latter. It's just plain wrong! _______________________________________________ nnsquad mailing list https://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad