By Margaret Yekulis • @myekulis

Working in Social Media, I like to make sure I’m on top of everything in my industry. From checking into restaurants all over the city, tweeting as much relevant information as I can each day and even trying to push my family to go social, including my dog. Yes, my dog is on Twitter. To be fair, this is probably something that only a social media addict would say or do. But when you keep in mind that people spent $47.7 Billion on their pets last year, and that there’s a whole industry surrounding ways to make your four legged friend more tech savvy, setting your pet up on Twitter isn’t that crazy (at least that’s what I tell myself!).

Puppy Tweets
Late last year, Mattel came out with a device called Puppy Tweets. The device, which is essentially a USB drive you plug into your computer, sends out automated tweets that are based on your dog’s actions. Sure, they’re automated tweets such as “Getting up from my nap to tweet clearly demonstrates that I get daily exercise" and “I think this dog collar makes my hips look big." But for those who can’t be with their pets while they’re at work, it’s fun to at least see an update from them every now and then in your Twitter feed. And don’t worry cat fans, I may be biased towards my canine companion, but there is a device out from Sony that also tracks your cats movements to tweet what they’re doing.



Pet People
But it isn’t just novelty devices like Puppy Tweets that are keeping pet owners social. As with any niche community, there are many sites throughout the web to help keep pet owners connected. Dogster.com has a community of its own to help keep dog owners connected. This includes anything from sharing dog friendly recipes to the all-important Answers section that covers everything from local pet laws to foods your four-legged friend shouldn’t eat. Of course, the best part of the site is the adoption section, which allows shelters to create and manage pages to update the latest adoptable pets in their shelter.



Pets Getting Social
Of course, humans aren’t the only ones to connect with each other online. Dogs can connect with one another as well through an application like Dogbook. Dogbook was created as an application for people on Facebook to create a profile for their dogs. The application gives pet owners (because yes, there is Catbook, Horsebook, Ferretbook, etc.) the opportunity to let others know where their favorite dog park is, what their favorite toys are and even become friends with other dogs. There’s even an app for your phone so you can update your pets’ status on the go!





While spending time on your pets social media presence may not be for everyone, it’s a fun alternative for those of us wh