My personal Twitter account is definitely not devoted to cats. It’s also not devoted to original posts, just random retweets and likes that bookmark events. I have created a new Twitter account for the Cats of Peacock Hill (@PeacockCats), but this is a story about something that happened on my personal account.
Through my personal Twitter account, I follow a cat named Curious Zelda (@CuriousZelda). Curious Zelda lives in England and displays a forever-surprised look. She is a tuxedo cat like my Radha, and they have similar markings. While Curious Zelda looks startled at all times, Radha looks concerned most of the time (she’s a very serious-looking but silly-acting cat). Anyway, in September 2018, Curious Zelda had a series of posts about how cats look like various sorts of bread. After taking a special picture of Radha, I decided I had to share it with Curious Zelda.
The Post
I cuddle in my bed
with @CuriousZelda in my head.
Should I make myself a loaf of bread? pic.twitter.com/cBDSjr614p— Susan Ferguson (@FergieWheeler) September 20, 2018
This is a screenshot of my post where you can see Curious Zelda’s comment:
I felt like a total fan girl when Curious Zelda actually commented on my post! I was so excited!! Curious Zelda had about 100K followers at that point, and due to her comment, my Radha post took off! In just a weekend, Radha’s post had six retweets and over 280 likes. Radha became Internet famous (in my opinion) for a brief period of time! My Twitter account had never had so much action. Cats are definitely the heroes of the Internet, and Radha’s popularity exceeded my expectations.
According to Wikipedia, “ThoughtCatalog has described cats as the ‘unofficial mascot of the Internet’,” and I believe it. If you look on social media platforms, a lot of cats have their own accounts. Cats also have their own blogs. Several of their owners have landed book deals, as in the case of Curious Zelda, and if they choose to promote products, they can charge a premium for their social media reach. It’s amazing how popular cats are, and I felt just a little bit of that with Radha’s brush with Internet fame.
This Blog
Radha’s post was my first ah-ha that maybe people would enjoy seeing my cats more. I also realized that people don’t have to know me or my cats personally to get joy or information out of my stories and pictures. Plus I admitted to myself that I have accumulated a lot of wisdom about dealing with cats. That’s when I started thinking about having a cat blog, but it took me another year to do it. I started out with a different blog name, and I didn’t feel so great about my “shadow cat” drawing that I use for my logo. I built the site and let it sit for a while. My affection grew with regard to my logo drawing, which I drew as part of a birthday card. I finally decided to give my blog a more personal name. We call our house “Peacock Hill,” and I decided that “Cats of Peacock Hill” had a certain ring to it. Once I finally switched the name of the blog, I had no idea that I’d be dealing with serious cat drama that would constitute four posts so far. I decided to be as open and honest as possible about life in a multi-cat household, and though I shied away from the topic at first, I decided to forge ahead on the posts about cat pee. I guess you could say I ripped back the veil on real life in a multi-cat household.
Getting Social!
As of last week, I’m actively promoting Cats of Peacock Hill on Facebook, and I have started up the Instagram account (@catsofpeacockhill) and the Twitter account (@PeacockCats). The Instagram account will show everyday pictures of the Peacock Hill crew, and I think the Twitter account will as well. I’m trying to sort it all out, but if you enjoy my cats, please follow them on whatever platforms you like best.
BTW, I bought Curious Zelda’s book for Graham’s birthday. It’s called The Adventures of a Curious Cat, and it is clever and fun and available on Amazon!
Disclaimer: I was not paid by Curious Zelda or Twitter to talk about this wonderful experience. I just love sharing the story!
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