My Five #220

Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.

This week’s My Five is by Matt.

1. Doggos rule the internet

Cats have always ruled the internet, but according to some highly scientific research by BBC’s North America technology reporter, Dave Lee, that rule may have come to an end.

Earlier this week, Dave wrote:

‘While in years past we’ve perhaps welcomed the charming cynicism of the likes of Grumpy Cat, it seems people of the internet are now, in stranger times, longing instead for the unconditional and unwavering love of dogs – and I have the highly subjective data to prove it.’

That data, in case you were wondering, was provided by Socialbakers – a social media monitoring company – who helped verify Dave’s theories by providing the following facts:

• The most popular animal on Facebook is a dog named Boo. He’s got more than 17.5m likes, more than double that of his closest feline competitor, Grumpy Cat.

• On Instagram, while the top animal celebrity may be a cat (Nala), 2nd, 3rd and 4th place are all dogs.
• More people now search on Google for ‘cute dogs’, than ‘funny cats’.

If you still need convincing, Dave provides a fairly persuasive argument in his article, which you can find here.

I for one am delighted that dogs are finally getting the recognition they deserve. I am a cat owner, and can confirm that they make rubbish pets.

2. Cards Against Humanity seeks new CEO

The super-fun party game for super-edgy grownups, Cards Against Humanity, should be congratulating its PR team this week, after a job listing for a new CEO went viral.

The ad, which was posted on Craigslist, lists a very specific set of requirements from its prospective CEO, not least a ‘minimum eight years experience President of the United States of America or equivalent nation’. The ad also specifies that the position will only go to someone who has ‘Experience hunting terrorist masterminds’ and ‘Passed comprehensive healthcare reform’.

The company is of course looking to recruit everyone’s favorite former president of President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. Sounds like a longshot, but stranger things have happened.

3. Google called out for prioritising its own ads

In a study commissioned by The Wall Street Journal,  Google was called out for unfairly placing its own ads at the top of search results.

The study, run by search-ad-data firm SEMrush, examined 25,000 pages and looked at 1,000 results for 25 search terms including ‘watches’, ‘speakers’ and ‘laptops’. In all 1,000 searches for the term ‘laptop’, Google’s Chromebook was the top result.

Additionally, 98% of searches for ‘watches’ resulted in first place positions for retailers selling Android smartwatches.

Google declined to comment on the claims, but in an interesting twist many of the ads were removed immediately after the report was released – coincidence? Hmm.

4. The never ending search for health

Fad diets are a thing of the past and veganism is the new coolest thing. That’s according to new data released by Hitwise, a company that monitors the internet search habits of three million Brits.

In the past three years alone, searches for ‘veganism’ have increased by 221%, while searches for gluten-free food options have increased by 69%.

Conversely, interest in fad diets appears to be waning, with searches relating to the once-popular Paleo diet, falling 22%.

There’s plenty more interesting findings here, which you can enjoy reading while I slip off to the pub to enjoy a lunch of delicious meat and beer.

5. What really went down on inauguration day

The Bad Lip Reading YouTube channel was first brought to my attention back in 2013, when the now legendary THE NFL: A Bad Lip Reading video was released, and subsequently went viral. That video has now had over 68 million views.

The latest effort to come from the Bad Lip Reading camp was released earlier this month, and it is, predictably, brilliant