Social Networking for Animals on Facebook

Catbook and Dogbook are Facebooks for your pets. This application will allow you to create a profile page for your cat or dog. It is a link from your Facebook profile page to your pets profile page. This was the idea of independent developer, Alexandre Roche. A basic Facebook profile page will be made for your pet , including description and picture. The sites have attracted more than 570,000 users in less than three months.

Facebook is the 10th most popular site on the internet. Facebook's traffic has grown since the site decided in May to let users create applications. Catbook and Dogbook are only two of the 3,000 applications on the Facebook site. Facebook users can now add video clips, list their travel destinations, favorite songs, favorite books, horoscopes and current moods.

Any member of Facebook can add the Catbook or Dogbook and create a profile for their pets. To sign up your dog or cat, you need to create a Facebook account. Once you do that then log in. Type Dogbook or Catbook into the search field on the facebook site (top left corner) and the application will pop-up. Click the link and follow the instructions to download the Dogbook or Catbook application. Now you and your pets are ready to enter cyberspace. You can upload a primary pictures, list sex, breed, favorite treats, hometown, age and favorite activity. Just like people version of Facebook, pets can ask other pets to be their friends. You can accept or reject pet friends just like your account at Facebook. Dogs can be friends with cats and cats can be friends with dogs. Or if you prefer, dogs can stick with dogs and cats can stick with cats. Future features are in the planning stages. In the future you will be able to use video and message boards for your cat or dogs.

Pet owners interact with others on Catbook and Dogbook as if they were the pet speaking in first person. The pets will respond as if they are holding actual conversations with each other. One posting had comments on what the dog had done that day, similar to a blog. The dog had posted that he thought his owners loved his long white hair, until he was banned from the couch. Some pet owners use this as a way to connect with new friends for long walks in the park or play dates for the animals. This is another opportunity for social networking for the owners as well as the cats and dogs.

These profiles for pets are a sign of how fun, sophisticated and popular social networking sites have become online.