This is Jacob.

He spends a lot of time on the Internet.

He reads the latest news or plays online games with friends.

But while surfing the Web, there is one thing he cannot escape, especially on social media: cats.

Pictures, GIFs, memes, videos—cats seem to be everywhere.

Jacob is amazed by the amount of content related to these felines.

He even read that cat videos have more views per video than any other category of YouTube content.

But why is that?

He asks psychology student and proud cat owner Julia why the furry little creatures are so popular.

Julia explains that virality often depends on emotionally compelling content.

Cat content provokes a strong emotional response through high physiological arousal.

People tend to share positive content more than negative or sad content, which provokes low arousal emotions.

Furthermore, cats are the perfect canvas for human projection.

We do not fully understand their odd behavior and find them fascinating, and sometimes we see a bit of our own behavior in them.

A rather obvious reason is that cats are simply cute and entertaining,

With their highly emotive and expressive faces, they're the perfect distraction from our busy lives.

You don't need any explanation or knowledge to understand the humor animals provide.

Funny cat videos also help people feel less anxiety, sadness, and annoyance.

Who could stay upset watching a little kitten chasing its own tail?

Jacob understands Julia's points, but there are plenty of other cute animals.

Also, he often finds that dogs are much nicer than cats.

What makes cats so special?

Julia has an explanation for this.

The Internet lives for weird things as people seek out the strange.

Cats are unpredictable and often get themselves into hilariously unexpected situations.

The element of surprise and cat content makes it so compelling.

So why aren't dogs ruling the Web?

It's easy.

They seem too eager to please us.

Dogs have been domesticated for some time and so can interact comfortably with humans.

Cats, on the other hand, are much harder to read and have never evolved to work with us.

Their unpredictable and seemingly arrogant behavior makes them so interesting.

Jacob finally understands the fuss about cats on the World Wide Web.

Not everyone who likes or shares cat content is a crazy cat person.

Cats are just hard to resist.

Already owning the Internet and with one more cat skeptic convinced, cats are one step closer to world domination.