Research On Weibo "Bot" Phenomenon From The Perspective Of Consumer Culture

Sina Weibo has been in existence for ten years.Compared with emerging social media such as Tiktok in recent years,Weibo seems to lose the freshness and vitality.However,in the second half of 2018,the emerging of "Weibo bot" accounts successfully turned the public's attention back to the Weibo platform.This paper puts the "Weibo bot",a unique product of China's cyberspace into the field of Consumer Culture.I'd like to answer two questions: what is "Weibo bot" ? Will "Weibo bot" disappear in the future? In this research,I use quantitative and qualitative research methods,mainly to do the "Millennium bot" case study.This study finds that "Millennium bot" constitutes a postmodern hyperspace for nostalgic consumption.Here,the content of "Millennium bot" is a whole set of commodities.Through the means of simulacrum,manipulating of symbol,etc.,commodities are linked into a nostalgic consumption meanings chain.Consumers are in the passive position.Under the stimulation of their desire to distinction,their Secondary Production can continue the nostalgic path,or lead to other meaning systems.With the using of personalized language,consumers may eventually be isolated from each other.Finally,I tried to generalize the "Millennium bot" as an on-demand radio channel which offer memories to audiences.This nostalgic model calls back the past,but it can't reveal the real history.In addition,though consumers are in the passive position,they still have the initiative,this nostalgic consumption show their emotional personality and openness.However,as a popular culture,"Weibo bot" can't escape from cultural recycling,"Weibo bot" will eventually disappear in the future.