CONTENT WATCH: The psychology of cat videos, and more

The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionado who loves the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are a handful of headlines to kickstart your Friday, but first, you get a big picture of sleeping kittens:

Why We Create and Share Cat Videos and Why It Matters to People and Brands (Fast Co.Create)
Finally! An article legitimizing the value of cat videos! Memes, more than just distractions, are  tools for elevating the everyday, building relationships, and empowering communities. There’s even room for brand marketers to jump inwithout looking overtly gimmicky.

Facebook Drops ‘Sponsored Stories’ As It Pares Down Ad Formats (AdAge)
You might be surprised to hear that as of yesterday, Facebook had 27 different ad formats. Over the next six months, they’ll be cutting that number in half. Word on the street is that its ‘sponsored stories’ product, for one, will make an official exit.

News360 Puts ‘Native Advertising’ into Its Personal News App (PaidContent)
Two big trends — custom news and native ads — are joining forces to help brands reach new audiences. News360, an app that creates personalized collections of news reading material, has signed up three brands to test a new native advertising experience. Advertisers can choose to pay for exposure based on an engagement metric of their choice.

Redditors Angry Over New Rules in /r/atheism (GigaOM)
Community-controlled content is a difficult beast, and here’s yet another example as Reddit’s moderators enforce new rules for one of its very popular “subreddits” — and the community’s responding with an uproar. The intent is to keep “atheism” central to the core discussion, discourage off-topic posts, and keep trolling to a minimum.