Internet Cats, and What They Mean

After Thursday's class, I began thinking about the website that we discussed and analyzed at comic length. Although I have seen doctored pictures of cats and other animals on the Internet before, I have never thought about why so many people take pleasure from such things. That is, until Thursday.

I believe the reason the I Can Has Cheezburger? website has been so successful since its creation in 2007 is because it appeals to such a specific audience. The website, which gets as many as 1.5 million hits a day, is the perfect example of an expanding trend in journalism: narrow-casting. What that means is instead of targeting a broad demographic, it's more financially viable today to focus on specific topics that have large numbers of fans. Thus, a website devoted to non-sensical cat pictures has a built-in fan base: cat owners. In hindsight, it makes complete sense.

But what does that mean for the future of independent media? Are the most popular and financially successful websites all going to target very narrow audiences, or will it just be a passing fad? I think that narrow-casting, especially in the Internet age, is not only here to stay, but will continue to grow. I expect to see more unique and ludicrous website like I Can Has Cheezburger? in the future. I just hope I can be creative and capitalize on Internet narrow-casting, because it's a trend that's full of potential.