Welcome to the Week’s Review of Canine Social Media
Welcome to this Special Feature on the DoggieU K9 Blog for an update on this week’s dog-related social media from around the world. There are so many stories. Here we will share some of the best stories this week.
Enjoy & share them.
New Original TV Series for Pet Parents: ‘The Dog Chef’
DOGTV premiered Season 2 of a new series on March 3, 2022 spotlighting ‘The Dog Chef’ Kevyn Matthews and his work preparing healthy food for pooches.
- This season, the Dog Chef is making house calls! Kevyn is visiting pet parents at home and teaching them to prepare personalized recipes he created with common dog health issues in mind. Follow along as he travels the East Coast helping dogs live healthier, happier lives, one tasty dish at a time.
Chef Kevyn Matthews, AKA The Dog Chef, is the owner of the award-winning Dog Chef Cafe, making fresh food, treats, and froyo tailored to canine companions for over twenty years. Before becoming a personal chef for dogs, his time in the restaurant and catering industries led him to work alongside chefs like Jose Andres, and cook on-set for Danny Aeilo, Jane Curtain, and Heidi Klum. Since becoming The Dog Chef, Chef Kevyn has been featured on Animal Planet, Women’s Health Magazine, Voice of America, DOGTV, and most recently Pet Tales with Greta Van Susteren.
- In the first episode, “Healthy Food is Pretty,” featured Matthews visiting Marcy H, whose dog suffers from severe allergies. Matthews helps create recipes that help the dog feel better and improve its quality of life. Future episodes help dogs with such issues as irritable bowel syndrome, bad breath and heart problems.
- Matthews said the creation of the show has been extremely rewarding for him, as he has had the chance to help dogs and their owners across the country.
[Link to DogTV] [Link to show website]
Photo of the Week
A Dog’s Life in Alaska
A Major Life Change
Have you ever shopped online for something, for example, windshield wipers for your car? And suddenly, all your browsing for the week or more gives you ads for wipers, auto cleaning products, cars to rent, cars to buy, numerous other car parts and accessories… relentlessly.
Introducing Tim M.
Well, Tim M. is someone who uses social media regularly and often. He has many interests and discusses sports, exchanged air-frying tips,
jogging recommendations, etc. online. But something he did, and shared online, changed everything. It created a landslide of new Tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts, TicToks and advertising. He got a dog!
Suddenly, his whole world changed. The social media algorithms of “he’s got a dog” came to life.
In Tim’s own words, “sure, cute dog videos are a staple of pretty much everyone’s experience on the internet but this was different. It wasn’t just, “Hey look, a puppy being cute.” It was far more specific and aimed at dog owners. I was getting served TikToks about crating your dog properly. Or “things you didn’t know about puppies’ behavior.” Or it was products. So many products.
For instance: Today I checked Instagram. I mindlessly swiped through a portion of my friends’ stories. Here’s the ads I was served. Dog dentistry, dog treats, and an apartment that is dog friendly. Even my real estate surfing knows I have a dog now.”
Tim has learned that these social media systems are recording data about everything we do. These algorithms truly affect our lives. They observe and record everything from what you click on to who are your friends. They remember what you scroll through, how long you spend on a post and what you click on. All of these pieces of data are assembled into a picture of you and these data are choosing what to show you.
Tim says, “The algorithms running the internet have a clear picture of me. I am a new dog owner. I am obsessed.
And I want to know every last training tip, feeding hack, and see every last video of a dog running around. So, yes, my online life has fully changed due to (my dog) Henry. But it’s my own doing. I looked into my Instagram ad interests and it was now full of dog-related search terms.”
“Having a puppy isn’t like having, you know, a human child, but it is a major life change nonetheless. Most of my day is spent thinking about the next time I have to walk Henry, or making sure he isn’t eating the strings from his toy, or petting the little guy. Henry is a major part of my life away from my phone and computer.”
Welcome to 2022.
And Tim says, “It was just a matter of time before being a dog owner took over my online life, too.”