Why My CAT Has a Facebook Page
Updated: Jul 10, 2019
It’s true! My cat Wayne has his very own Facebook page and is friends with 700 other cats from all around the world!
I created my cat’s page over a decade ago… just fooling around and to amuse my two (then) teenage daughters. Initially, my daughters were the cat’s only FB friends. Subsequently, my cat received a couple of friend requests from OTHER CATS! I accepted the requests, analyzed THEIR friends list and discovered a delightfully bizarre Facebook cat network. I began to develop a friend list of my own. The criteria… I would send a friend request only to those who had a cat-centric name and whose cover photo was that of a cat. I quickly compiled an eccentric and diverse group of feline FB friends. Well over half posted in the first person… The person entering the posts did so as if they were the cat. The others posted as a human speaking on behalf of the cat. The majority of the posts and responses revolved around cats.
So what does any of this have to do with travel?
After a while, I discovered a Facebook app that would list and map the location of your FB friends. The cat already had a few friends in Canada and the UK, but I decided to see how many countries he could reach. By checking out others’ friend lists, I sent out hundreds of friend requests with the same above criteria to cats around the world. My cat ultimately compiled a very large friend list. Most were from the US, Canada and the UK, but his friend list grew to represent well over 40 nations including France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, UAE, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan and many others, as well as virtually every region of the US. Given their populations, China (PRC), India, and Indonesia were conspicuously absent. Through the lenses of global cat-lovers, I’ve gained a fresh perspective and insight of international social media culture. Food photos come from all over the world. The most exotic food photos come from Wayne’s friends in Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines. Spirited political arguments are not unique to the United States (Lookin’ at you, UK!). And most of these “cats” from all over the world will often share their stories and photos of friends, family, joys and occasionally disappointments… just like us North Americans. Wayne’s friend list is made up of diverse cultures around world united by the love of cats. With the help of Facebook translations, I have... or I should say WAYNE has communicated with some of his other feline friends in French, Spanish and Thai! It has been said that cats rule the internet… and my cat’s international Facebook experiences support that notion!
