Pup Power
JiffPom (@jiffpom) has more than 10 million followers on Instagram.

via @Jiffpom (JiffPom); Shutterstock.com (Phone)

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Is This the World’s Richest Dog?

Pets are the latest big Instagram stars. And they’re making millions from their fame.  

    Get ready to meet one of the world’s biggest social media stars. He has more than 10 million followers on Instagram and half a billion likes on TikTok. He hangs out with celebs like Ariana Grande. Starbucks and Target pay him to advertise their products. And for a big fee, he’ll post about his favorite meal: dog food.

    This famous—and adorable—star answers to the name JiffPom.

Little Dog, Big Money

    Welcome to the world of pet influencers. For years, people have been posting pictures and videos of their pets online. The best posts get shared widely. Some pets end up with thousands of followers. They’re called influencers because they can affect what their followers buy. And that’s worth a lot of money to some businesses. 

    The most popular pets on the internet get thousands of dollars to post about a product. JiffPom has appeared in a Starbucks shirt ordering coffee. He’s ridden in a Honda car. He sends candy to kids who unbox it online. Each time one of these ads appears, he makes more than $30,000. That’s about what the average American human makes in a year!

How to Be a Star

    So are you ready to get out your camera and make Fido famous? It’s not as easy as it sounds. Pet owners work hard. They answer emails from fans. They come up with ideas for photos and videos. Then they have to make a tired pet look cute for the camera—day after day.

    It also helps to spend months training your pet. JiffPom can walk on his rear legs. He can run on his front legs. He can even do handstands. 

    Still, it’s hard to know whether your pup has star power. JiffPom is adorable. But it’s not always the cutest pets that rise to the top. One of the first pets to go viral was a cat named Grumpy Cat. She had a health problem that froze her face in a frown. Today, Nala the cat has more than 4 million Instagram followers. Her claim to fame? Her slightly crossed eyes. 

    So, who knows, maybe there’s hope for Fido.

Isa Foltin/Getty Images

Say Cheese! 
Grumpy Cat and his owner show off their famous frowns at an event in 2017.

Correction: A previous version of this article wrongly identified Grumpy Cat as a he. Grumpy Cat is actually a female. Special thanks to Jenna in Mrs. Shaffer’s class at Walnut Springs Middle School in Westerville, Ohio, for bringing this to our attention.

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