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Library/Meme & format/Lolcats and I Can Has Cheezburger?
Grade B24 sourcesHIS-01571

Lolcats and I Can Has Cheezburger?

Meme & format · 2007 · Niche

34Editable slideCertificate

A cat caption blog led to a book with 141,133 shipments reported by its publisher.

File:I can has cheezburger.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons / Or Hiltch
Ben Huh, owner of I Can Has Cheezburger? , being interviewed by a G4 journalist at ROFLCon II
Sage Ross / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Official first collection cover featuring Happycat; published by Gotham in 2008.
Penguin Random House / Gotham Books
Cats Can Has Grammar - Anil Dash
Anil Dash

Spread Score

How it works
ReachNo data yetContagionNo data yetBreadth60Velocity0LongevityNo data yet34

Numbers

Seed to milestone
22 months
Jan 11 ’07 to Oct 26 ’08
Platforms
5
Started on Open web
Origin
Seeded
Culture (no sector)

Mechanics

  • Shareable outputPrimary
  • Catchphrase
  • Maker origin
  • Platform jump
  • Press loop

How it spread

Trace the origin

A Happycat image became a submission-driven blog. Caption tools, press coverage and a book carried lolcats beyond forums. The book's bestseller entry is the milestone anchor; the later network financing covered many humor sites.

Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.

Google searchesAug ’04Sep ’05Mar ’07JulMar ’08AugMar ’09DecSep ’11Jan ’13Sep ’14Feb ’16SepMilestoneOpen webPressRetailTVX
Open webPressRetailTVX

13 more events on this chart

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Timeline (16)

  1. 2005

    4chan users precursor · 2005

    4chan users shared captioned cat pictures in Caturday threads.[1]

    Open the first post ↗

  2. January 2007

    Eric Nakagawa and Kari Unebasami seed · Jan 11 ’07

    Eric Nakagawa and Kari Unebasami launched I Can Has Cheezburger? around the Happycat image.[2][3]

  3. April 2007

    Anil Dash platform jump · Apr 23 ’07

    Anil Dash analyzed lolcat grammar and linked to a tool for making captioned cat pictures.[4]

    Cats Can Has Grammar - Anil Dash

  1. press · Apr 27 ’07

  2. press · Jul 12 ’07

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Why it worked

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Origin
Seeded
Sector
Culture (no sector)
Region
US
Reported figure
—
Evidence
Grade B

Spread the same way

Meme & format · TikTok · 202363

Canon Events

A Spider-Verse filter appeared in over 770,000 TikTok videos, according to its maker.

770K derivatives

1 / 8

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  • Lapse (2023 relaunch)

New cases, every week

How the next thing spread, the week it does.