Lil’ Bub
Working closely with the Indiana University Media School, the News and Media Team issued a news release about research by Professor Jessica Gall Myrick, “Not-so-guilty pleasure: Viewing cat videos boosts energy and positive emotions, IU study finds.”
Given the worldwide popularity of Internet cat videos, it seemed likely that the public and news media would be receptive of this research — finding it as irresistible at catnip.
After the release went out on June 16, the News and Media Team responded to numerous media requests from around the world for the paper and interviews with Myrick. It also pushed the study out on social media and helped fuel it going viral online.
In response to all of the interest in the study, TheConversation.com asked if Myrick would write an article about the value of the research and why she chose to do it. She wrote the article, “Study shows the paw-sitive effects of watching cat videos.” Her article subsequently was picked up by the popular sites Slate, Mashable, Digg, Quartz and Fortune Magazine.
Professor Myrick has been interviewed extensively on radio and TV stations and networks, including National Public Radio (see below), Los Angeles radio station KABC-AM, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. radio (numerous times), RTE Radio in Ireland and stations in Australia. She has spoken to the New York Times and featured on HuffPost Live.
Laboratory Equipment magazine selected Myrick as its “Scientist of the Week” and did a Q&A with her.
It even became fodder for a classic cartoon, Ziggy.
Other coverage included:
- The Washington Post article, “The fascinating, feel-good psychology of Internet cat videos.”
- Salon article, “Cat videos boost energy and positive emotions, researcher at Indiana University finds.”
- CBS News, “Study shows videos of cats may improve mood.”
- National Public Radio, “Watching Cat Videos Serves Useful Purpose, Research Finds.”
- Glamour, “Cat Videos Are Good for You, Says Science.”
- The Daily Beast, “I Watched 100 Cat Videos for Science“
- Gizmodo, “At Last We Have a Scientific Explanation for Cat Pictures“
- Wisconsin Public Radio, “The Science of Feel-Good Cat Videos“
- BBC
- Australian Broadcasting Commission
- Cable News Network
- Marketwatch
- Global News (Canada)
- New Zealand 3 News
- San Antonio Living TV show
- Fox News
- Fox News Health Fix
- RT (Russian Television)
- Live Science, “Internet Cat Videos Keep you Purring.”
- The Today Show
- ABC “Good Morning America“
- New York Magazine
- Minneapolis Star-Tribune
- People Magazine
- Modern Cat
- Esquire
- Country Living
- Tech News Today
- MediaPost
- Huffington Post and Huffington Post UK
- MentalFloss
- BrainDecoder
- Wonkette
- MTV News
- Scroll.In (India)
- TheConversation.com (Australia edition)
- Futurity
- Refinery29
- Medical Daily
- Deseret News
- The Daily Mail (UK)
- The Times of London (UK)
- The Mirror (UK)
- The Independent (UK)
- The Telegraph (UK)
- City A.M. (UK)
- USA Today
- Psych Central
- Yahoo News
- BBC Mundo
- ArsTechnica
- Fusion
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Chicago Daily Herald
- Indianapolis Star
- Indianapolis Business Journal
- Boston Globe
- The Oregonian
- International Business Times
- The Australian Women’s Weekly
- The Health Site
- Care2.com
- Geek
- UberGizmo
- Bustle
- Business Insider
- GOOD magazine
- TheExaminer.com
- KIRO TV (Seattle, Cox Media Group)
- WGN (Chicago)
- The Blaze
- The Dodo
- The Mary Sue
- Softpedia
- Mother Nature Network
- Zee News (India)
- Toronto Star (Canada)
- Kelowna Now (Canada)
- Le Journal de Montreal (Canada)
- Marie Claire (France)
- El Universal (Mexico)
- HIN.BE (Belgium)
- 6 Minutes (A site for doctors in Australia)
- Metro Nieuws (Netherlands)
- 3News TV (New Zealand)
- Malavida (Spanish language tech site)
- MedPortal (Russia)
- Brazil Post (Brazil)
- Fortune Turkey (Turkey)
- Hong Kong Golden (China)
- Malay Mail (Malaysia)
- Slate (France)
- Improbable Research
- 7R Future Leadership Institute
- WISH-TV
- Indiana Public Media
- Bloomington Herald-Times
- Indiana Daily Student
An article on the popular site “I F______ Love Science” has been liked by more than 100,000 Facebook followers and shared by nearly 40,000 people.
Professor Myrick even received a congratulatory email from “Disco the Parakeet,” the “smooth-talking budgie from ‘Pets – Wild at Heart’ on BBC One.” George Takei of “Star Trek” fame, who has 1.66 million followers on Twitter, tweeted about the study. Satire site The Onion parodied the study.
