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"Let's face it. Animals rule the Internet. Between LOLcats and upside-down dogs, people just can't get enough cute. Even serious news stories can't compare to the viral power of a sneezing panda or giggling slow loris. \nIn the world of social media, animals have been tweeting with more than just their beaks. They've been updating Facebook and YouTube accounts as well. The human faces behind these animal status updates spend precious time managing fictional animal accounts, but many have more online followers than major media outlets.\nWe've collected the most popular animal social media accounts and compared their fan bases to those of prominent media organizations. The results should shed some light on the Internet's priorities. \n\n\n10 Animals With More Social Media Fans Than Major Media Outlets\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. Sockington vs. ESPN\nThe Internet may be chock-full of cats, but only one can be its king. @Sockington is a normal cat that belongs to Internet archivist Jason Scott, but he has somehow recruited more than 1.48 million people into his \"Socks Army.\" Compare that to @ESPN, which attracted 20,000 fewer sports fans to follow its account. Litterbox maintenance beats out the leading sports network. Go figure.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. Bronx Zoo's Cobra vs. BBC News\nIn March, one of the world\u2019s deadliest snakes slipped from its cage in the Bronx Zoo. Along with the media cacophony, someone began a BronxZoosCobra Twitter account, which gained more than 200,000 followers in less than a week. The cobra was recaptured, but it didn\u2019t stop the hijinks of this account, and its companion escapee, BronxZooPeacock. It also has more followers than the well-respected BBC News.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. Maru vs. currentTV\nMaru is a male Scottish Fold cat who lives in Japan. He also has the distinction of having more than 139,000 YouTube subscribers, and videos of him have been viewed more than 108 million times. It isn\u2019t hard to see why \u2013 seriously, this cat is adorable.  It was actually hard to find a media YouTube channel that rivals Maru\u2019s dominance; he has more subscribers than CNN, Fox News, and The New York Times\u2019 channels combined. It was just barely beaten by Current, the TV network started by Al Gore that features original and user-generated reporting from around the world.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. Boo vs. People Magazine\nWhile we\u2019ve talked about top cats, social media\u2019s top dog is Boo. He\u2019s a cute Pomeranian who likes to wear sunglasses or bear suits, and he also has more than 1.3 million Facebook fans. No big deal. Apparently, more people would like to look at adorable pictures of Boo than read about celebrity gossip on People Magazine's Facebook Page, which is odd, considering Boo isn\u2019t even being toted about in a celebutaunt\u2019s purse.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. Nyan Cat vs. MSNBC\nIf you haven\u2019t caught the Nyan Cat YouTube video, take care of that first. Now imagine a Twitter account that emulates Nyan Cat -- it only says \"nyan.\" Now ask yourself, why would this account have over 120,000 followers? We're not sure, but that\u2019s more followers than @MSNBC. If you're stumped, maybe just watch the video again.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. Beast vs. Forbes\nIt should be no surprise that Mark Zuckerburg\u2019s dog is doing well on Facebook. But Beast, a breed of Hungarian sheepdog called a Puli, has now surpassed the Facebook fans following business magazine Forbes. Hundreds of thousands of people look at pictures of the pup being walked, cuddled and lazing around Facebook's offices. Maybe Forbes should include Beast on its 400 list.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. Common Squirrel vs. San Francisco Gate\nOne tweets breaking news for the San Francisco area, and one tweets ponderous things such as \"run run run,\" \"dig\" and \"stare.\"@Common_Squirrel is doing very well on Twitter. Maybe @SFGate,\u00A0San Francisco\u2019s daily paper, should consider \"report\u201D and \u201Cbreak news\u201D for its next tweets.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. JFK Turtles vs. Newsday\nTwo weeks ago, turtles stopped airplane traffic on JFK airport's runways in New York. They quickly became the latest animal sensation on Twitter. Those turtles may be slow and steady, but they have gained more than 8,000 followers, surpassing Long Island's @Newsday Twitter account.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n9. Raccoon Willie vs. RadioLab\nRaccoon Willie has won YouTube fame by being a domesticated raccoon, and for teaching the world that you should never domesticate a raccoon if you value your home. The channel\u2019s owner also invites viewers to send postcards to Willie. The wily raccoon has more subscribers than science podcast RadioLab, which, come to think of it, might be interested in this kind of thing.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n10. Toaster vs. Savannah Morning News\nWhile @Toaster can\u2019t hope to rise to Internet stardom as compared to Beast, any dog belonging to former Digg owner Kevin Rose is bound to be popular on Twitter. The labradoodle has surpassed the @SavannahNow Twitter account, meaning more people get social updates from a canine than from the Savannah Morning News.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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