What One Influencer’s Viral Cat Videos Says About social media and its Credibility For accessibility

It’s perfectly logical to presume cat videos and accessibility have zero correlation.

And yet, there’s a valuable lesson to be learned from the ostensibly mismatched pair.

When I sat down with Amaris Branco, a 23-year-old influencer from Ontario, Canada, back in April to discuss her life and career, my interview with her felt instructive insofar as I quickly put the pieces together that her seemingly unrelated work as a content creator illustrates how accessibility pervades everything in everyday life, in ways large and small. With over 81,000 followers on her Instagram, it’d be equally logical to presume Branco is a seasoned, long-time social media maven; the truth is, though, she confided in me actively creating for her social channels was something she “never really took seriously.” She was more observer than participant, telling me she “loves” social media nowadays and began getting into it only recently, circa 2022 and 2023.

“I randomly started posting on TikTok for fun… just as something to do,” Branco said.

Her original conceit was a silly one: Pets can’t see what their humans do on a daily basis. They’re too small, too low to the ground. It “intrigued” her, for instance, that her beloved cat was unable to see into the microwave or spice cabinet. Branco initially resisted the idea to make a video about showing her cat such untraversed terrain, owing to her aforementioned apathy towards social media. Still, the notion gnawed at her… something “kept telling me,” she said, to create content and post it—so she did.

It became a viral sensation that changed Branco’s view of social media—and her life.

“That video took two seconds to make,” Branco said. “That was his [her cat’s] genuine reaction of him looking into the fridge for the first time and the spice cabinet—super raw, super real. That took me two seconds to film, then I posted it that night, not thinking anything of it… I thought, ‘Oh, just another silly video, whatever.’ I woke up the next morning to my video being at 100,000 likes! People were going insane over my cat.” A video that Branco posted on a lark born of curiosity, then shared with whimsy, would spark a trend that eventually raged through TikTok’s algorithm like wildfire.

“[My followers] were like, ‘Oh my god, your cat is so silly looking! Oh my god, your cat is insane. We want to see more videos!’ While people were telling me to make more videos of that series, people were also remaking the series on their own as well,” Branco told me of the response to her video. “They were showing their pets’ random stuff they’ve never seen before in their house, which was really crazy. People did it with their three iguanas. People were doing with their dogs, People were even doing with their babies. So many people hopped on this trend, and it all just happened like that. So I started posting more and more, and that became a huge series that blew up on my TikTok.”

One of Branco’s videos has 30 million views. She has 136,000 followers on TikTok.

Branco, who does contract work at an agency called Cornelia Creative that specializes in meme advertising, told me the cat who catapulted her to her modicum of celebrity, passed away. She’s since made content with her new cat, but admitted the vibes “aren’t the same” as they were with her old one. The popularity of her material led Branco to other opportunities as well, which helped cement her standing in the wide world of creators. “It was a crazy experience in my life,” she said. “I’ve always been so close with my cat, and I never thought a million years would we have started a TikTok trend together. Even now, I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe that actually happened!”

Her advice to aspiring creators? “Start posting the content,” Branco said.

The reason Branco’s story resonated with me, from a disability standpoint anyway, lies in her goal of getting people to “not be afraid to put themselves out there [and] post things they love.” She explained how she felt she was “hiding behind my phone’s screen” for the longest time, scared to be vulnerable by showing others the things which light her life. She was afraid of what people from her hometown may say, let alone strangers on the internet. Social media can be a cesspool—but it’s a lifeline too.

Branco appreciates how social media has immense power to highlight authenticity.

“The minute I did start posting and started doing things I love was when I started to see all the success and stuff,” she said. “If I could give advice to anybody, it would be ‘Don’t be afraid to shine your light. Don’t be afraid of judgment. And if you want to post your videos, if you want to do that, absolutely do it because it can literally change your life.’ If I didn’t post that first video, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today. It’s crazy how everything [in life] has a domino effect… yeah, if I could give any advice to anybody, it’d be: ‘Don’t hesitate to post if that’s what you want to do. Don’t be afraid of judgment.’”

I’ve written before about how, for all social media’s unsightly warts, people take for granted how it affords people the ability to connect and be social with other people from around the world in real time. For people in the disability community who are homebound or otherwise limited in their mobility for health and/or logistical reasons, things like Facebook or Instagram or TikTok are bonafide godsends. It’s certainly reasonable to surmise some percentage of Branco’s followers are disabled—counting yours truly on Instagram—and, silly though it is, a disabled person may find joy in her cat videos or her outfit-of-the-day Reels on Instagram as a way to be entertained and live vicariously through Branco. What’s more, disabled people such as Shane Burcaw and my friend Haben Girma provide visibility of our community doing things that buck the entrenched societal stereotypes of disabled people and our capabilities. The advent of social media has given the disability community more reach (and more awareness) than anything else in human history—and it’s not hyperbolic to say it like that. While not assistive technology in the classical sense—like, say, Apple’s suite of software—the moral of Branco’s story is simple: social media, no matter how lighthearted or seemingly insipid, has real potential to have profound impact on genuine human connectedness. There’s a reason Apple’s iPhone 17 launch event earlier this month was filled to the brim with not only traditional journalists like yours truly, but tech YouTubers and influencers galore as well. The hands-on area in the Steve Jobs Theater was all hustle and bustle with media folks using their camera rigs to shoot video or otherwise create content for their audience. At some point in recent times, someone on Apple’s vaunted PR team rightfully realized folks like Branco, if not exactly her, have sway. These people have pull. They, as the job description not-so-subtly implies, have influence. Of course all the attention is what Apple wants; the salient point is, again, social media is more than mindless doom-scrolling. For many, it’s an indispensable tool with which people not only consume (and disseminate) news and opinion, but also form lasting relationships which can transcend the digital spaces from which they’re forged.

Indeed, some of the best, closest relationships I have now originated on social media.

There’s a reason “Disability Twitter” and “Tech Twitter” and “NBA Twitter” are so popular online; the adage rings ever true: birds of a feather tend to flock together.

“I love how the internet is a safe space for that stuff where you’re accepted as a person,” Branco said. “Obviously, there’s gonna be a lot of hate too, but for the most part—what I’ve experienced personally—it’s a great community to shine your light and find like-minded people who enjoy the same things. I’ve met so many people who are cat lovers through making cat videos… I’ve met so many cool people in the process.”

Looking towards the future, Branco’s goal is simple: keep sharing! She told me she’s always ruminating over ideas on how to better engage her audience and let them get to know her. Besides cats, she loves thrifting and vlogging. Going to the beach, too. When I asked Branco what she sees in the proverbial crystal ball, she was succinct in her reply.

“My goal is to show up authentically as I have and make more content,” she said.