I came across a survey about social media the other day that left me in disbelief. It stated that 4% of the people questioned in said survey had set up a social media account for their child before he or she was even born, while an even higher percentage had a social media account for their pet.

My cynical journalist head was sceptical – I mean, why would anyone choose to be Facebook friends with a dog or a cat?! So I chose to test the theory and chat about it on the radio. We were inundated with responses from people with Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for all sorts of animals. In fact, the variety was so huge we even found a lady who had a dedicated Facebook page for her teddy bear!

The thing is, the internet loves animals. Cute animals are more popular than cute babies online – with the new dancing pony advert (genius) from Three being shared over 500,000 times within hours of hitting the internet. It’s currently the most viral clip online and has even overtaken the phenomenon that is the Harlem Shake.

If you don’t believe those figures, check out this infographic from My Voucher Codes. The results of their poll of 2,300 social media users may surprise you…

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