Sockington

Sockington — "Socks" to his fans — is a black-and-white tuxedo cat who became one of the first true social-media animal celebrities. Found as a hungry stray at Boston's Back Bay train station in 2004, he was adopted by archivist and digital historian Jason Scott. In 2007, Scott began posting short, first-person Twitter updates written from Sockington's point of view — a stream of breathless, capital-letter musings about food, naps, and the mysterious comings and goings of the household. The voice was absurd, relatable, and instantly addictive. At his peak around 2009, Sockington had over 1.5 million followers, briefly outranking many human celebrities and making him one of the most-followed accounts on the platform. He was covered by The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and the BBC as a case study in how the internet was reshaping fame. More than a novelty, Sockington helped define the template that nearly every "pet account" online would later follow: a constant, humorously narrated window into an ordinary animal's day. He proved that a rescued shelter cat, given a witty voice, could out-charm almost anyone.