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Few things can compare in terms of network popularity with “seals”. The incredible success of photos and videos with these cute creatures is a phenomenon that has already found its researchers. Will they solve this riddle of our days?
In 2014, there were over 2 million cat videos on YouTube, totaling 26 billion views—or about 12 million views per video. This figure exceeded the average number of views of all other videos on this resource. There is no doubt that today the “seals” have broken these records too. In addition, they have already won their own video festivals in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles. Headlines like “The Million Dollar Question: Why Does the Net Love Cats So Much?”
Jessica Gall Myrick of Indiana University, specialist in the emotional impact of media resources1, conducted a survey of almost 7000 respondents, with the help of an Internet star, a “cat with a tongue hanging out” named Lil Bub (Lil Bub), more precisely, its owners, who provided a link to the survey on their page and in an online mailing list .
Here are some of her findings.2
- In most cases (approximately 75%), Internet users accidentally get to videos “with cats”, much less often (in approximately 25% of cases) they are specifically looking for them on the Web.
- Most often, video lovers are not limited only to views, but use the interactive capabilities of the Internet. Approximately 22% of respondents reported that they leave comments under such videos, 75% put likes, 54% repost in certain social networks.
- Users are twice as likely to post a cat photo or video as they are to post their own selfie.
- Fans of such videos have some common psychological traits. For the most part, these are very friendly people – they are cooperative, friendly, trust others to a much greater extent than those who rarely watch “cat” videos. Therefore, reposting videos that seem to someone a waste of time, for these people is an opportunity to share joyful emotions and good mood.
- Fans of cat videos showed fairly high scores on the shyness scale. They were much more likely to agree with the statement, “I feel uncomfortable around people I don’t know well.”
- Many respondents admitted that they watched videos with cats at a time when they had to work or study. In other words, this activity is closely related to procrastination. However, while they felt guilty about shirking their responsibilities, it was mitigated and compensated for by the enjoyment that users got from watching funny or touching scenes involving cats.
- Respondents admitted that watching videos with cats reduced anxiety, feelings of sadness and irritability. Their mood involuntarily improved. These subjective impressions are also confirmed by scientifically based tests. In fact, here comes the “exposure effect” described by Robert B. Zajonc back in 1980: the more often we encounter a stimulus, the more we like it. In this case, the more often we watch such pleasant videos for us, the more pleasure we get from them.
For more details, see the electronic database of scientific articles on the website
1 Her website emotionsandmedia.com
2 The full results will be published in Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 52 November 2015.
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