The internet phenomenon of sharing cute videos of cats is to be celebrated in the “world’s first” film festival dedicated to viral felines…The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is set to take place on 30 August in Minneapolis, in the US.

The event is described as a chance for people to come together and “LOL [laugh out loud] in the presence of others”…

Stand-out examples include Keyboard Cat, a clip originally recorded in 1984 showing a cat “playing” a tune on the keyboard.

It was uploaded to YouTube in 2007, and has since had over 25 million views…Thousands of remixes and reversions of the clip have seen it immortalised further, with even a dedicated website following its use…

I Can Haz Cheezburger is a blog dedicated to adding captions to pictures of cats, often adding human traits and emotions to the animals.

The site, which is said to receive more than a million hits every day, was sold in 2007 for a reported $2 million.

It has since evolved into the Cheezburger Network, a collection of other sites based on a similar format. Its owners raised $30 million in funding from investors last year.

One viral video expert told the BBC cat videos would always remain popular among internet users…

“It works across all cultures, all languages… and we are genetically tuned to have an emotional response to cute animals.”

While dogs have enjoyed considerable viral success – a “talking” dog was the most viewed YouTube clip in the UK last year – some say cats rule the internet…”There are theories that dogs are making a resurgence,” added Mr Robinson.

I admit that in my quest for relevant articles to post about, to serve as focus for political, scientific or historic comment in the blogosphere, my brain can be distracted by dog photos and videos more than any other theme. As anyone who receives email from me can attest.