We live in a world full of stereotypes – and everybody knows it. This is a phenomenon that won’t stop, because mass-media tends to increase it and it has a huge impact on people.  A popular stereotype about people and pets is that those who have a dog as a pet tend to have more friends than the people who own cats.

A content analysis made by Facebook busted the myth. They wanted to find out if this stereotype is true and they analyzed the data from about 160.000 people from U.S. The pictures and people status, as well as Facebook friends were relevant for this study. Read on to find out the truth!

When Facebook analyzed the number of friends, people who had dogs as pets have more friends than those who own cats. On average, dog people have 26 more friends than cat people. Like their extroverted pets, dog people make more connections, at least online. On the other hand, cat people get invited to more events, so they’re putting their friendships to good use!

Moreover, cat people tend to be friends with other cat people and dog people with other dog people. Regarding to relationship status, cat owners are more likely to be single than dog people. 30% of cat people are single, compared to 24% of dog people. But this can’t be generalized and totally confirmed, because many people don’t show their relationship status on Facebook, even if they are involved.

Regarding Facebook page likes, people who have cats like fantasy, sci-fi and anime books, movies and Tv, while dog people like love stories and things about dogs.

In conclusion, this isn’t a study detailed enough to generalize the results, or to make them representative for a population. At first glance, though, the stereotype is confirmed through this content analysis. So, dog people tend to be friendlier than those who love cats!