On the internet, everybody knows you're a dog: the human-pet relationship in online social networks

ABSTRACT

The benefits of pet ownership to physical and mental health are extensive and well documented. Online social networks have the potential to strengthen these relationships and build community among pet owners. In this work, we present several results on the difference in behavior between dog and cat owners in pet-oriented social networks. We extend this analysis to divisions between urban and rural users. Our results show that there are significant differences among these groups. We propose a theory for future testing that more socially isolated the owners are from real-world communities of similar pet owners, the more active they are in forming social connections on these websites, and we offer initial evidence to support this. These results show that these pet social networks are already being used to help support the human-animal bond online, and that different types of pet owners would benefit from different types of support within the systems.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.m Miscellaneous

General Terms:
Experimentation, Human Factors

Keywords:
online communities, pets, social networks