Online Animal (Auto-)Biographies: What Does It Mean When We “Give Animals a Voice?”

Abstract

This chapter looks at why and how animals are so prominently featured in social media today, and what the implications are both for those animals and for animals in general. It addresses the ways in which online animals serve as more than just the feline, canine, or porcine face and voice of a human writer, but can work to promote better treatment of animals. This chapter suggests that online animal biographies may create space for a new understanding of animal subjectivity which can lead to real changes for animals. By creating and following animals on social media, we give these animals a social presence which may result in concrete changes for the animals behind the profiles.