僵尸粉(jiāng shī fěn) とは、Weibo (中国の sns, Twitterに相当)上に存在するフェイクフォロワーのことで、「zombie fan」とも呼ばれる。彼らは、SNSの片隅に存在し、気づきにくいが膨大である。彼らは、パターン化された機械のような特性を持ちながら、実在の人と同じようにアカウントを操作し、中には実在の人よりも熱心に投稿する者さえいる。投稿の内容は、感情やディテールが豊かであり、過剰な繰り返しによるばかばかしさや可笑しさが見られるものもある。矛盾と曖昧さに満ちた存在である。
インフルエンサーの人気を高めるために生まれた僵尸粉は、規約に反した存在と見なされ、SNS プラットフォーム側は、あらゆる手段でこれらの違反アカウントをブロックしようとする。対して、僵尸粉はブロックされないようにするために、どんどん進化して実在のユーザーに近づいていくしかない。文字化けした名前と空白のアバターだけの初代の僵尸粉から、プロフィールや投稿内容がきわめて豊かな僵尸粉まで、一見複雑に見える彼らの行為には、実は特定の行動パターンが隠されている。僵尸粉の行為の痕跡をすべて収集・整理することで、彼らのデジタル・アイデンティティが垣間見える。
僵尸粉は、肉体を持たないサイバー生物という、現代特有の存在だ。現実と仮想世界の境界が曖昧になりつつある今、サイバー生物は私たちと同じ世界に生きていると言えるのだろうか。この作品は僵尸粉をアナログの世界に連れ出して、オンラインコンテンツを実体化する試みのである。
作品は三つの部分で構成されている。インフォグラフィック、引き出しの中の僵尸粉の部屋、部屋の内部を紹介する解説映像である。インフォグラフィックは、Weibo で判定できるすべての僵尸粉を観察対象として、その行動パターンを全体的に表した。代表的な僵尸粉の部屋は全部で10室。
各部屋は、インプット、プロセス、アウトプットの3つのパーツと、個人ページを表示するスマホから構成されている。各僵尸粉のデジタル・アイデンティティをもとに、仕事や生活のシナリオを想像し、それを具現化した。
Jiāng shī fěn (僵尸粉), also known as "zombie fans," are fake followers on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of SNS, Twitter). They exist on the fringes of social networking sites and are hard to notice, but are vast. They operate their accounts in the same way as real people, with the characteristics of patterned machines, and some even post more enthusiastically than real people. The posts are rich in emotion and detail, and some are ridiculous and funny through excessive repetition. They are full of contradictions and ambiguities.
zombie fans, created to increase the popularity of influencers, are considered to be in violation of protocol, and social networking platforms attempt to block these offending accounts by any means possible. In contrast, zombie fans has no choice but to evolve and get closer and closer to real users in order to avoid being blocked. From the first zombie fans with only garbled names and blank avatars to the zombie fans with extremely rich profiles and postings, their seemingly complex actions actually hide specific behavioral patterns. By collecting and organizing all traces of zombie fans' actions, we can get a glimpse of their digital identities.
Zombie fans is a cyber creature without a physical body, an existence unique to the modern age. Now that the boundary between the real and virtual worlds is becoming blurred, can we say that cyber creatures live in the same world as us? This work is an attempt to materialize online content by bringing zombie fans into the analog world.
The work is composed of three parts. The work consists of three parts: an infographic, a room of zombie fans in a drawer, and an explanatory video showing the inside of the room. The infographic shows the overall behavior patterns of all the zombie fans that can be detected on Weibo. There are a total of 10 representative zombie fans rooms.
Each room consists of three parts: input, process, and output, and a smartphone displaying a personal page. Based on the digital identity of each zombie fans, we imagined and embodied scenarios of work and life.
zombie fans, created to increase the popularity of influencers, are considered to be in violation of protocol, and social networking platforms attempt to block these offending accounts by any means possible. In contrast, zombie fans has no choice but to evolve and get closer and closer to real users in order to avoid being blocked. From the first zombie fans with only garbled names and blank avatars to the zombie fans with extremely rich profiles and postings, their seemingly complex actions actually hide specific behavioral patterns. By collecting and organizing all traces of zombie fans' actions, we can get a glimpse of their digital identities.
Zombie fans is a cyber creature without a physical body, an existence unique to the modern age. Now that the boundary between the real and virtual worlds is becoming blurred, can we say that cyber creatures live in the same world as us? This work is an attempt to materialize online content by bringing zombie fans into the analog world.
The work is composed of three parts. The work consists of three parts: an infographic, a room of zombie fans in a drawer, and an explanatory video showing the inside of the room. The infographic shows the overall behavior patterns of all the zombie fans that can be detected on Weibo. There are a total of 10 representative zombie fans rooms.
Each room consists of three parts: input, process, and output, and a smartphone displaying a personal page. Based on the digital identity of each zombie fans, we imagined and embodied scenarios of work and life.
