Vitals
URL: http://icanhascheezburger.com
Affiliations: n/a
Launched: January 2007
Author(s): Pet Holdings, Inc.
Google Links: 75,000
Technorati Rating: ca. 12,700 / 10th most popular blog
Run On: WordPress.com
The I Can Has Cheezburger blog chronicles the explosive growth of a certain internet image macro, usually depicting a cat (or in some variations, other cute creatures) in a funny situation with chatspeak overlaid onto the image. The roots of the lolcat (or “laugh out loud” cat) macro isn’t traceable to a single author, as it has perpetuated itself over and over again onto hundreds of different websites in the last few years.
This blog’s importance in the context of the larger blogosphere is minimal, but its great popularity suggests it has struck a chord with the internet-surfing public. Its democratic model of allowing anyone to create a lolcat and distribute it to friends, usually without attribution, is attractive to the average web user with access to cuddly creature pictures and wanting to offer their take on a silly situation. Naturally, some lolcats inevitably make pop culture references, anthropomorphicizing the newsworthiness or significance of a cultural item.
Although there are many blogs that post lolcat pictures, I Can Has Cheezburger is the most popular one. Its success lies in the exclusivity of its content, posting only lolcat and related pictures. The website strives to be as user-oriented as possible, soliciting lolcat submissions from visitors and enabling visitors to rate each picture, and bookmark and share the images through social applications such as Digg.
The editors and authors of the website are not readily identifiable, as the images become the forefront of the discussion and the reason that people visit the blog. Since there are no stakes except whether a lolcat picture is truly funny or not, voted in numbers of cheezburgers by the site’s visitors, there is no need or requirement for the editors, or the creators of the lolcat pictures to have any special expertise. To make the process even more democratic, there is a lolcat image generator anyone can use to create their own piece of viral internet culture.
The near-universal appeal of cats, silly captions, and the chance to induce a chuckle in another web user with a little Photoshop magic explains why I Can Has Cheezburger is so popular. Some people like comis strips, others lolcats.
On Whose Authority?
I Can Has Cheezburger
Filed under: Art, Commentary, Humor, Satire | Tags: animals, cats, chatspeak, cheeseburger, cheezburger, funny, Humor, lolcat, macros, o rly, social commentary, useless
Vitals
Affiliations: n/a
Launched: January 2007
Author(s): Pet Holdings, Inc.
Google Links: 75,000
Technorati Rating: ca. 12,700 / 10th most popular blog
Run On: WordPress.com
The I Can Has Cheezburger blog chronicles the explosive growth of a certain internet image macro, usually depicting a cat (or in some variations, other cute creatures) in a funny situation with chatspeak overlaid onto the image. The roots of the lolcat (or “laugh out loud” cat) macro isn’t traceable to a single author, as it has perpetuated itself over and over again onto hundreds of different websites in the last few years.
Although there are many blogs that post lolcat pictures, I Can Has Cheezburger is the most popular one. Its success lies in the exclusivity of its content, posting only lolcat and related pictures. The website strives to be as user-oriented as possible, soliciting lolcat submissions from visitors and enabling visitors to rate each picture, and bookmark and share the images through social applications such as Digg.
The near-universal appeal of cats, silly captions, and the chance to induce a chuckle in another web user with a little Photoshop magic explains why I Can Has Cheezburger is so popular. Some people like comis strips, others lolcats.