I thought this press release, republished below, was a joke, for a good ten minutes: a startup out of Estonia has launched a social network site for dogs and cats, with "the latest and greatest Web 2.0 technologies" and praise from tech review sites such as Mashable. Each pet profile can have up to 50 photos, as well as a blog for news updates. I can see how pet owners might enjoy showing off their animals, or rating others'. But, "pet social networking"? To a cold-hearted cactus-owner like myself, the appeal of a pet is obscure; the idea that one would choose to socialize with people based on the breed of their dog is perplexing; that this counts as a a space, in its own right, an increasingly competitive one, apparently, is absolutely absurd. As Pets.com was to the online retailing, a sensible idea taken to ridiculous extremes, so sites like Dogster and United Dogs and Cats may prove in the latest boom, a social network too far. Read on for the release.

Web 2.0 meets dogs and cats, nearly 2000 join within weeks

Just a tad more than a week ago, an Estonia-based United Dogs and Cats Ltd
launched two social networking sites globally - one for dogs and other for cats,
both packed with Web 2.0 effects and nitty-gritty.

"We think there is just way too many social networking sites for humans out
there already," the company says in their blog about the newborn sites
Unitedogs.com and Unitedcats.com.

Killerstartups.com writes: "The pet niche seems to be popular
right now. In their limited alpha release they already managed to have
almost 2,000 pet members."

Mashable.com, the biggest social networking blog site, adds: " There's plenty
of AJAX on the site as well, offering a list of the most recent actions users have
taken on the site. See who left a note in a forum, and who has commented on
Sparky's latest photo. This covers the entire community."

At Uniteddogs.com and Unitedcats.com, pet-owners can create a social
website for their dog/cat for free with ease. They can also find friends
for their dogs and cats, and set up a blog for them.

With already almost 2000 dogs and cats joined since the launch of their
early alpha versions on a local market, both sites have combined feature
set of MySpace, Facebook and Orkut.

"We try to differentiate ourselves from the competitors with use of latest
and greatest Web 2.0 technologies. Also, we're much more photo-oriented.
But the latest and greatest technologies are not to be overused," the
head designer at United Dogs and Cats Ltd speaks, adding there is
more unique things in their labs.

All pets can have up to 50 photos added to their profile and can have their
own blog set up, too. "We offer the pet owners what they deserve - a handy,
easy-to-use interface with a push-button publishing functionality and a
sleek design on top of it," the designer speaks. "Dogs and cats should have
their websites set up as easily as setting up a blog at Blogger," the CEO, Mr
Ragnar Sass explains, "we work quickly and efficiently, and we do not want
to waste a second developing a feature that people wouldn't start using."

"The future of pet social networking seems bright. It's a niché social
networking industry with more competitors coming in, so the situation is
changing every day," they both add. United Dogs and Cats Ltd is entirely
self-funded and consists of 5 people. Their office is situated in Estonia,
which is quickly marking its spot on the world map as one of the technology
and innovation centers.

Related websites:
http://www.uniteddogs.com
http://www.unitedcats.com
http://www.uniteddogsandcats.com

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