I used to love dogs when I was a kid, now I'm definitely a cat person.<p>I find dogs superficial and too simple-minded. If you feed them often enough, they will like you (guaranteed) - I find this kind of relationship unsatisfying - You are the master and so the dog has no choice but to like you. Kind of like how people are inclined to laugh when their boss makes a not-so-funny joke - That's the kind of dynamic you get.<p>Cats are more mysterious and complex. Most of the time, when a cat shows affection, their real motives are usually pretty straight forward; like how they start rubbing themselves against you only when you're physically holding their food (they don't try to hide anything). Often you get the feeling that cats don't care about you at all. In fact, they probably don't really need you (they can usually fend for themselves catching mice, lizards, birds, get food from neighbours, etc...)<p>But sometimes, there are rare moments when a cat will show you affection without any obvious reason; and when they do, it feels a lot more genuine than the kind of affection you would get from a dog.<p>I like cats because I like to foster relationships between equals. My cat is my friend, not my subordinate - I don't really NEED the cat and the cat doesn't really NEED me - There are no ulterior evolutionary/survival motives between us.<p>I just don't like relationships where there is a power imbalance (even when I get to be the master). Though I suppose some could argue that it's not so different from a parent-child relationship - But then again, some parents are more strict than others...
I loved OkCupid's analysis based on data from their site, and I liked this blog post too :) .<p>Facebook must be absolutely fascinating for researchers, I wonder if they make anonymized datasets available for universities? - Edit: they do<p><a href="https://snap.stanford.edu/data/egonets-Facebook.html" rel="nofollow">https://snap.stanford.edu/data/egonets-Facebook.html</a><p><a href="http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2011/02/15/facebook-data-of-1-2-million-users-from-2005-released/" rel="nofollow">http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2011/02/15/facebook-data-of-1-2...</a>
It's funny, I grew up with both cats and dogs and like them both (and one observation I've had is that most people I know tend to like whichever pets they had when they were younger, fear of the unknown and all that).<p>In my circle of friends in SF/Oakland cats are definitely more prevalent but I think a lot of that has to do with how expensive owning a dog here is. My roommate has two cats but I'd probably get a dog if it wouldn't cost me so much. You need:<p>1) An apartment/house that allows dogs. This means you either own your own property, pay out the nose for a newer development that allows pets, or if you're in the lucky few you may have a rent controlled place lets you have them<p>2) Something for them to do during the day. This means you either work at a place that lets you have pets, have enough money to pay a dogwalker, or have enough private indoor/outdoor space where you can leave them dog during the day (see #1)<p>3) Places to put them while you travel, but most of your friends can't have dogs at their places so this usually means paying a dogsitter<p>I imagine it's similar in places like NYC but it's weird for me to think of owning a dog as a status symbol
The book and movie comparisons throw me off. It looks like the majority of dog owners in this research are women, while the majority of cat owners are men. I'd have expected those to be reversed.
This seems like quite an intrusion into people's private data. If certain other large companies decided to crawl all over your data for shits and giggles, I'm fairly sure HN would have its pitchforks out.
Here is Australia, I don't like cats because they kill the native wildlife. They're a pest.<p>I have also seen what cats can do after travelling to some Greek islands. Almost zero wildlife on lands. No prevelance of birds. You wake up to silence.<p>For this reason, I'll always be a dog person.
I wonder how much of this is an introvert/extravert thing? I mean, the article already points out that dog people will likely have more friends and cat people are more likely to be single, so I suspect the difference in preferences may depend on that aspect of someone's personality.<p>Cats are perfect for introverts; they look after themselves, don't tend to do much in the day, don't need walks and hence can be mostly left alone (or left to sit next to you) while you browse the internet or work at home.<p>Dogs require more excercise, commitment, etc. So if you gain energy from being around others, what better way than to go for two walks a day round the streets/local park?<p>So extraverts likely choose dogs, and introverts likely choose cats.
Meh.<p>There really is only one thing that makes me cat person: Cats don't need someone to take them out to POOP.<p>Somehow, cats made the intellectual leap that dogs can't seem to grasp. That is, shitting in a box and covering it up. Brilliant.
This is a really nice blog post; I hope we keep seeing more posts like this coming from Facebook.<p>I wonder why we haven't seen something similar from Google. Surely they have access to as much or more data? Perhaps Google does publish similar blog posts, and I'm just not aware of where to look for them?<p>In any case, the results presented definitely didn't match my expectations. Although upon giving it a bit of thought, I can see how introverted cat people are more likely to have classic "nerdy" interests like scifi, fantasy, anime, etc.
I like dogs.<p>I like cats.<p>I'm just very allergic to cats. It has seriously been a barrier to whom I hang around with. The allergy is genetic. My father had a worse allergic reaction than myself.<p>My father found a person he liked enough to try to find a work around. This was quite a milestone for my dad. Growing up, my father was just a rigid guy. There were no "work arounds"<p>Well, when his girlfriend came over he had a separate set of clothes she would put on--free of cat allergens. Even with that preparation he ended up in the emergency room three times. I was there once when he had an Asthma attack. I used two epi pens, and he still couldn't breath.<p>A cat tried to be friends with me last summer. I was working on my transmission at 1 a.m.. This little cat started to meow behind my head. He actually startled me.
Well I got up, and checked for a collar. No collar. He followed me around the house for the following week. What ever chore I did, he was there. For weeks he would show up at the door with a mouse in his mouth. "I brought dinner." The mice were usually alive, but in shock. I would let them loose on my Lawyers property. This cat wanted a new home so bad, he would climb up the side of the house and peer into Windows. I'm still not sure how he got so high.<p>Just when I decided he could live in the garage, he showed up one night with a collar, and a number. I called the number, and the owner said when they got a puppy a few years ago; he decided to look for a new home. The owner said he would be gone for a week at a time, but always came home.<p>This cat still visits a least once a month. He usually takes a nap, and leaves.
Cool analysis, but the results seem off to me based on my own social network (which line up with a lot of common stereotypes).<p>I think I know why. The majority of people I know who have cats don't post photos of their cats on social media, but it's pretty mainstream to post photos of a dog. This reflects social habits with pets in general: at work the dog people regularly talk about their dogs, e.g. how they took them to the park on Saturday. I rarely hear any discussion about cats at work even though I know more of my coworkers own them.<p>I think this leads to an "alternative", quirky, less social bias on the cat people. There's probably some bias on the dog people, but I imagine far less of one.
As a human-presenting, non-binary, therian (felinekin), I feel I must weight in.<p>Gender is a binary social construct used for oppression and it is disgusting to project your closed minded, heteronormative, racist ideas of gender on innocent animals who have no way of consenting.<p>Using the word "pussy" to refer to vaginal sexual organs OR to a feline animal is a micro-aggression against all womyn AND all feline-identifying otherkin and is the type of privileged, sexist language that enables our oppression.
Regardless of your choice, definitely adopt from a shelter!<p>I have two adopted animals, a cat and a dog (and a 2nd beagle from a breeder).<p>If you can provide a forever home to an animal, you will be rewarded for it.
Some of the comments here try to justify their love for either species by arguing that the other is inferior in some way. I find this very silly. Why can't you just like cats, or dogs or both? There doesn't have to be any objective reasoning behind it other than simple personal preference.
I wonder how many people are on Facebook without even knowing they're being profiled like this. Sure, this is an interesting article, but this minuscule piece alludes to how much they know about the people on their platform.
Here's some fun dinner party conversation you can source from this article: dog people like "Fifty Shades of Grey", cat people like "A Clockwork Orange". Discuss.
> "dog people are more outgoing, measured in terms of Facebook friends."<p>Or, perhaps, cat people just don't like adding friends on Facebook as much as dog people!
My understanding is research shows pets are good for well being and dogs are better than cats.<p>Which would imply part of these differences are causation.