An academic study of corgi butts on the Internet (and other animal content online): Univ. of Alabama's Jessica Maddox on Ukrainian kittens, cloned influencers, and the neoliberal "economy of cute"

Jessica Maddox, an assistant professor of digital media at the University of Alabama, is the author of the forthcoming book The Internet Is For Cats: How Animal Images Shape Our Digital Lives. Her research has largely involved looking at how people share and consume photos of animals on the Internet. She and Annie discuss a variety of topics relating to social media pets. Maddox offers an academic take on why people create Instagram accounts for their pets, are drawn to stories about Ukrainian rescue cats, and more. What does Youtube have to say about the practice of tying puppies to train tracks so that someone can post a video of their rescue? Why do some brands prefer to work with pet influencers over human ones? Are we living in a new era of anthropomorphizing our pets in a non-private arena, or is this just a new iteration of an age-old practice? And: Is it possible to breed an NFT cat? Maddox addresses these questions, and more.  

The secret life of pet Instagram accounts: Joy, resistance, and commodification in the Internet’s cute economy

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444820956345?journalCode=nmsa

More about Jessica Maddox

https://cis.ua.edu/cis-theme-staff/dr-jessica-maddox/

The Internet Is For Cats: How Animal Images Shape Our Digital Lives

https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-internet-is-for-cats/9781978827912

Why the Internet Is Obsessed With the Cats and Dogs of Ukraine

https://slate.com/technology/2022/03/ukraine-war-dogs-cats-pets.html

Crypto Kitties

https://www.cryptokitties.co/

Instagram accounts mentioned: 

@lolabarksdale

@wander_with_willow

@thecalfvet

@drhunterfinn

Follow School For The Dogs on Instagram: 

@schoolforthedogs

Follow Annie on Instagram: 

@annie.grossman

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Partial Transcript:

Annie:
So Jessica Maddox, tell me your exact title so I get it right.

Jessica Maddox:
Yeah. I am an assistant professor of digital media technology at the University of Alabama. I earned my PhD in mass communication from the University of Georgia in 2018.

Annie:
And tell me about your field of study.

Jessica:
Yeah, so I, largely speaking, just study social media and how social media contribute to internet pop culture. So, I've always been interested in things like selfies and memes and YouTube and TikTok and Instagram and the like. And several years ago, I became very interested in researching cats and dogs and horses and bearded dragons and all of the internet's pets. Because I was finding in my line of work that there really wasn't a whole lot of research being done on something that is so much a part of how we are online.

Full Transcript at SchoolForTheDogs.com/Podcast