In 7 days, Bilibili gained 200,000 followers. Why is the “cat meme” so popular on the Internet?

Cat memes are taking over the internet. How did cat meme videos go viral? Why are they taking over the internet?

"Cat meme" is invading the Internet. Recently, a Japanese UP host named "ねこのつぶやき" (cat's self-talk) became popular on Bilibili, gaining more than 270,000 followers in just half a month.

This UP host is a single mother. She shared the story of how her values ​​changed after she came to live in China. However, she did not appear in person. Instead, she added various funny cat emojis to the video editing and made a "cat meme" version of the vlog.

For example, on the plane to China, a newborn baby cried for two hours, and here he was accompanied by a screaming kitten expression with his hands on his head;

She was at a loss and started crying too. Fortunately, a kind Chinese guy comforted her. At this time, a sad kitten and a belly dancing white cat recreated the conversation between the two.

The UP host recalled that before setting out, he was afraid of Chinese strangers, but now it seems that it was just prejudice. The change in opinion before and after was expressed by one cat hitting another cat.

The UP host mentioned that these "cat meme" videos were first posted on YouTube and then exported to Bilibili. Currently, the highest number of views for a single YouTube video is 82,000, with 3,850 fans, while the number of views for the first video on Bilibili exceeded 1.6 million, with an increase of more than 200,000 fans in a week, which is much more popular than the former.

The concept of meme originated in the West. In the field of cultural communication, it refers to the language, ideas, beliefs, behaviors, etc. that are spread among a certain group of people through imitation. It usually appears in the form of pictures, videos, jokes, etc., and is humorous and sarcastic.

Simply put, "cat meme" is a short video made using popular cat memes on the Internet. The cute and magical cats can vividly convey certain emotions through actions or expressions, such as happiness, pride, sadness, disdain, and collapse.

According to the observation of the Xinbang editorial department, in the past three months, "cat meme" has become a popular creative trend on domestic and overseas platforms, and the first "cat meme" video released by many new authors has become a hit.

Searching for cat memes on Bilibili (left) and Xiaohongshu (right)

How did the 'cat meme' video go viral? Why did it take the internet by storm?

1. From emoticons to daily vlogs, cat memes are popular both at home and abroad

Almost every year we can see new cat memes on the Internet. It can be said that cat memes have been popular for as long as the history of the Internet.

"Cat meme" collection

Well-known cat memes include Happy Cat, Banana Cat, Chipi Cat, Two Kittens Talking, Dancing Cow Cat, Fresh Brother , etc. Some cat memes come from domestic bloggers, such as the two talking kittens, which come from bloggers "Proud Big Fat Rabbit" and "Bard Uncle Bang".

The path to the popularity of cat meme is similar to that of cheems and doge. It was first spread because of its vivid and interesting emoticons, and then various secondary creations gave it rich story connotations, and gradually became a popular meme.

There are many cat meme green screen materials and related tutorials on the Internet. Once you prepare the story script and background materials, you can start editing.

Tutorial on making a simple cat meme, by @k鼠子, Bilibili

First set up a scene, then add a cat emoticon package, usually letting the cat play a role to express a certain phenomenon or point of view, and finally add a few sentences of text description (sometimes just a title), and a cat meme video clip lasting a few seconds is born.

For example, these two kittens who talk about everything, one plays the role of TJ in MBTI, and the other is INFP. When the TJ sees the INFP lying down without doing anything, he feels confused. The INFP explains that he is just tired. The short 9-second video received 17,000 likes on Xiaohongshu.

Little Red Book @A Lazy Pool

For example, you are eating snacks in class thinking you haven’t been discovered (confused cat), but when you look up, you find that the teacher has been staring at you for five minutes (fresh brother). With the sound effects and switching cameras, a subtle dramatic effect is created. This Douyin video has currently received over 1.27 million likes.

The blogger "Lost 0001" has posted 185 cat meme videos from the end of March 2023 to the present, and currently has 264,000 followers.

Cat meme accounts like this have already emerged on domestic and overseas platforms in 2023. Recently, longer secondary creation videos have appeared, which are generally more than 1 minute long and mainly record personal experiences and tell stories of daily life.

If the daily videos shot with real people in the past were called vlogs, then the popular one now is cat memelog.

Cat memes have become a hot trend on multiple social platforms in Japan, with video views ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions.

"猫ミーム" (Japanese, referring to cat meme) on TikTok

After the popular overseas cat meme videos were moved to Bilibili, they quickly attracted a lot of attention in China.

The UP host "k鼠子" started to transfer and translate cat meme videos into Chinese in February 2024 (some of which were authorized by the original authors). His followers on Bilibili increased by more than 100,000 in one month. Currently, the collection "Cat Meme (Imported from Japan)" has 128 videos, with a total of 35.76 million views.

"ねこのつぶやき" also joined Bilibili at this time. After her number of fans exceeded 170,000, she posted a video to thank netizens. Her speech was full of Northeastern accent. It turned out that she had lived in Dalian for many years. No wonder the cat meme she made hit the funny spot of Chinese people.

From her first video, we can intuitively feel how some prejudices are broken .

After arriving in China, the UP owner decided to learn Chinese as quickly as possible so that she could communicate. She studied Chinese for 14 hours a day (she was drawn to it) and finally found a job.

On her first day at work, she found that she could not understand the local dialect; there were many female leaders, and although they had a superior-subordinate relationship, they did not use honorifics and could express their opinions directly. After all, "the average employee's salary is very low...but tuition and rent are very expensive"; when eating, everyone would rush to pay the bill.

Some comments said that compared with some foreign bloggers, she did not deliberately flatter China, nor did she make biased judgments, but instead truly presented the differences between different social and cultural backgrounds.

Some people also said that as a single mother, she studied and worked in a foreign country while taking care of her children, and conveyed a strong and optimistic spirit through the cat meme.

It can be seen that cat meme is actually a carrier with its own traffic, which can allow real stories and interesting souls to cross borders and be seen by more people.

2. My first cat meme video went viral

On domestic social platforms, some new creators have created many popular cat meme videos, and some even made it to the hot list after their first release.

For example, using cat memes to share daily life in school, the ordinary reveals warm and simple happiness.

UP host "Zao Dongning" recalled that she was forced to sit next to her class teacher on a bus for an autumn outing because she was left alone. She didn't dare to play with her phone and fell asleep quietly. As a result, she woke up and found herself leaning on the class teacher's shoulder. She was heartbroken for a while, but she could only continue to pretend to sleep.

This is her first time posting a cat meme, and the description of real details made netizens miss their school days. Currently, the video has been played over 5.36 million times.

The daily life of workers is also suitable for sharing through cat memes. After all, who doesn’t go crazy when working?

UP host "Ganmeifensawanwu" tells a day in the life of a "low-level socially anxious kindergarten teacher". As soon as the video was released, it ranked second in the entire site rankings, and the current number of views has exceeded 2.85 million. The short 4 minutes and 20 seconds video seems to be so long that it seems to have lasted for four lifetimes.

6:40 Wake up

7:40 Dragging the "corpse" to the kindergarten

8:00 "A large wave of zombies is approaching"

8:15 Outdoor activities, turn on the loud speaker mode to look after the children

9:00 Turn on the roaring mode, collect toys, take them back to the classroom, urinate and wash hands

9:10 Snack

9:25 I am so tired of attending class and managing the discipline

9:50 After class, free time

10:25 Collect toys, zip up and line up outdoors

10:50 Return to the classroom, wash hands and eat

11:30 Arrange clothes and go outdoors

11:50 Everyone urinates, washes hands, and goes to bed (in winter, each child has to take off three pieces of clothing, all of which need to be taken off)

12:00 Shift lunch

…

Here comes the point. During nap time, she suddenly heard a strange noise - a little kid with poop on his face said with a silly smile, "Teacher, I'm done."

Friends who see this don’t be scared, because it all happened in reality.

In addition to these happy stories, painful experiences are also unexpectedly suitable for cat memes. Those low moments in life are ridiculed with cute cat memes, which inexplicably have a sense of lighthearted absurdity.

The UP host "HerenotFreya" made a cat meme for the first time, telling such a heavy topic - "My 17-year love-hate relationship with anxiety disorder", which received over 1.71 million views and 380,000 likes on Bilibili.

It is not easy to reveal one's own scars. For creators, it is easier to use cat memes to express their feelings than to express them in person. For the audience, it can also more intuitively understand what the author has experienced.

To some extent, the creative form of cat meme can tell the cruel reality in an optimistic and playful manner, thus giving encouragement and courage to the audience.

Why we love cat memes

The popularity of cat memes is due to the relatively low barriers to creation and sharing .

For creators, making meme content does not require real people to appear on screen, and there is no need to worry about how to perform. The narrative can be easily completed by using memes, just like making a simplified version of an animation, which is very friendly to novices.

Among various memes, cat memes are endless and varied. Their behaviors and expressions seem to have natural healing and funny effects, so cat memes also provide a broad space for secondary creation.

Sometimes memes of other creatures get mixed in, like a laughing dog, a sheep sticking its tongue out crazily, a Kenshi Yonezu version of a happy cat, and even real people imitating the cat meme.

Cat memes are also an all-inclusive form of creation that can accommodate a variety of themes, including mundane daily life, curious anecdotes, and profound experiences. This inclusiveness allows cat memes to reach audiences of different ages, backgrounds, and interests, thus spreading rapidly and becoming a pop culture phenomenon.

It is worth noting that not all cat memes can achieve high traffic, but popular cat memes often have the following common features: they accurately capture and express the emotions and life experiences of ordinary people, allowing the audience to find their own shadows in them.

Cat memes can add points to happy stories and reduce the burden of sad stories . In essence, they are all personal expressions by arousing curiosity or empathy. Just like the Japanese UP host "ねこのつぶやき" mentioned above, cat memes allow her stories to transcend language and cultural barriers, allowing people from different backgrounds to understand and appreciate each other.

We like cat memes, but in fact we also like a good story or a real and vivid slice of life.

Author: Juanmao, Editor: Zhang Jie

WeChat public account: Xinbang