Aug 26 2007

Social Petworking

Published by at 2:10 pm under Australian Websites,community,social networking

Dog

Facts:

  • There are nearly twice as many pets as people in Australia
  • 63% of Australian households own pets
  • 12 million Australians are associated with pets
  • The petcare industry is worth $4.62 billion annually
  • 91% of pet owners report feeling “very close” to their pets

(source: Pet Statistics)

Given these statistics, it makes a lot of sense that internet communities have evolved around pets.

Typically these networks take a forum configuration, where pet owners share advice and anecdotes, but in line with people networking there seems to be a trend to the pets themselves networking. Or I should say, social petworking.

Now your cat or dog cat have a profile, a blog and even friends too.

Pick of the Litter

Dogster has over 319,000 members (with around 500 new dogs daily) and 53,000 dog blogs.

Catster has over 132,000 members (with around 200 new cats daily) and 21,048 cat blogs.

Popular networking site Facebook has a Pet Profile application:

Pet Profile lets you create a unique profile for your pet(s). No matter how many pets, no matter what type of pet, Pet Profile is the only application for your beloved animal family members. You can have multiple breeds, owners, friends, you name it. You can even “Pet a pet!”.

It appears that some 37,000+ Facebook members have added this application (and from what I can gather, it’s only been around for about 10 weeks).

My Cat Space and My Dog Space are newcomers that are starting to gain some traction, and there’s even a dating site, Date My Pet, specifically for pet lovers with the tag line “Date me. Date my Pet”.

The Local Breed

Dog Space seems to be the forerunner in terms of Web 2.0 design in Australia, although less that 300 members. Dogs have their own profiles where other dogs can post comments, nudge and send a message. Profiles can also be rated. And there are even dogblogs too!

The rest of the pack seem to be more traditional forum style websites, albeit a wealth of information and commendable membership numbers:

Dogz Online – 12,000+

Pets Playground – 3,500+

OzPets Forum – 2,000+

Cat-World – 6,900 +

Litter Kwitter – 630 members (the site revolves around toilet training cats)

Love My Pet – 1,100 + members

Dog Sites – 1,300 + members

And if anyone is interested in adopting a pet or looking for information about rehoming a pet – there’s always Pet Rescue.

PetRescue is all about helping shelters find animals new homes and educating the community about the great (and not so great!) aspects of pet ownership.

Pet rescue has rehomed over 14,000 pets, and currently have 1,400+ pets in need of rescue.

If you’re an animal lover, what’s your favourite site? Does your pet have a profile?

8 responses so far

8 Responses to “Social Petworking”

  1. Snoskredon 26 Aug 2007 at 3:35 pm

    What a cool post! I’m going to have to add my pets to these sites. 😉

    Snoskred
    http://www.snoskred.org/

  2. Katieon 26 Aug 2007 at 8:16 pm

    I don’t have a petsite for Puddy, but you’ve probably noticed she is featured on my blog a lot. Like, 3/4 of it is about her, haha. I’ve never really gotten into the “catster” clique but I have been welcomed into http://www.blog.catblogosphere.com with open arms – those guys are great and it’s a huge collection of cats and their blogs, and it’s a VERY popular cat space in the blogosphere, should definitely be on the list. 😉

  3. Megon 26 Aug 2007 at 9:31 pm

    Hi Snoskred

    I did think of you and Leigh particularly when I wrote this :)

    Hi Katie

    Thanks for the link. Glad you found a happy place :) They sure do have a lot of links – it’s a very popular niche.

  4. Colin Campbellon 27 Aug 2007 at 4:27 am

    We are members of the Yahoo Group for Tenterfield Terriers. A very welcoming group.

  5. Laurel Papworthon 27 Aug 2007 at 6:24 pm

    OMGosh, so many puns in such a small space. Social petworking? Pick of the litter? Stop, please Megalicious, I beg of you! 😛 Hey if you want to set up a Doggerati, I’ll help you! *falls of her chair laughing*. *waves* BTW did you know that Malcolm Turnbull blogs as one of his dogs? o.O

  6. Megon 27 Aug 2007 at 8:10 pm

    Hi Colin – glad you found a welcoming group :)

    Hey Laurel – blame my Dad, I inherited it from him! Doggerati heheh 😀

  7. Law Student Blogon 10 Nov 2007 at 2:18 pm

    Petworkingâ„¢.

    Can that be trademarked? :)

    -Mike

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