"Wen Huijun"'s Magic Red

The "Yu Wenliang phenomenon" has ended, and the "Wen Huijun phenomenon" has been all over the WeChat Moments overnight. Wen Huijun is another "ordinary person internet celebrity" who was inadvertently created with the traffic of short video platforms. The author of this article explains and analyzes the reasons for the "Wen Huijun phenomenon". Let's take a look.

From Yu Wenliang to Wen Huijun, netizens' enthusiasm for "playing with memes", the promotion of algorithms, and the linkage of content between multiple social platforms have made these "inexplicable" people and behaviors quickly become popular.

On the evening of December 17, a photo of a middle-aged man was widely shared on WeChat Moments by many people who are sensitive to hot topics. This was a selfie with almost no secondary processing. A few forehead wrinkles were clearly visible, along with his furrowed brows, drooping eyelids, slightly curly hair, and slightly pursed lips. Even if he wasn't looking up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, the sadness that was nowhere to be found was like the water behind him, seemingly calm but flowing.

In addition to photos, these circles of friends are almost always accompanied by a short and concise text, which may be "I have been walking on thin ice all my life", "People always have to say goodbye to things they can't hold on to", or "We are all not good at expressing ourselves, and we all have the truth in our hearts", "There are many emotions, but words are limited".

Moments are a relatively private social space. If you only see two identical posts, it might be a coincidence. But when you see the same face on several screens, you can’t help but have a huge question mark in your mind. One user told Power Plant that when she first saw a classmate’s Moments post, she thought the person in the photo was his father. It wasn’t until more and more similar pictures and texts appeared on her timeline that she was completely confused: “You can’t all have the same father, right?”

More people began to wonder who the man in the photo was. Another user received a message from a colleague before going to bed, with a screenshot and a question: "Why is this man suddenly so popular?"

1. When a middle-aged man suddenly becomes famous

To some extent, this "grand event" of swiping the WeChat Moments screen was actually a spontaneous group imitation behavior. "This man" is the person being imitated, named Wen Huijun, a Douyin video expert. The photos and texts that were repeatedly used and even "played with memes" were from his account of the same name "Wen Huijun" with 1.56 million followers.

The sudden popularity is changing his life. "He doesn't dare to turn on his phone now. It is said that many MCN agencies have contacted him and have blocked his doorstep in Shijiazhuang." A person who has recently come into contact with Wen Huijun told the power plant.

On Douyin, Wen Huijun's image is pieced together by three accounts - the work-related "Lian Wen Huijun Driver Service Department", the "Wen Shen" that mainly presents dance and live broadcasts, and the "Wen Huijun" who mutters late at night and expresses his sadness in one sentence.

The aforementioned person revealed to the power plant that Wen Huijun is 43 years old this year and is an admissions officer at Hebei Li'an Driving School, who also does some teaching work. His hobby is dancing. He used to dance by himself, and now he has taught his son to dance. In the 1990s, he was the protagonist as soon as he entered those dance halls where the entrance fee was 20 cents or 50 cents. "Everyone gathered in a circle to watch him dance, which was equivalent to the 'dance tyrant' in Shijiazhuang. He himself joked that if there were short videos at that time, he would have been famous a long time ago."

With the basic skills, Ma Hong, chairman of Hebei Li'an Driving School and founder and chairman of Yixian Technology, supported Wen Huijun's short video career and encouraged him to give it a try. He also had a clear plan for the content of his account, "I knew exactly what to do from the beginning."

The short videos released by the "Li'an Wen Huijun Driver Service Department" give us a glimpse into Wen Huijun's "daily work life". As a driving school instructor, he is bound to have grudges and hatreds with students. Crossing the line when driving on a curve, crossing the line when reversing into a garage, "all those who were not taught can do it if I don't teach them"... Among them, the one with the highest number of views is the accusation against the "rebellious son": 9 students took the second subject test, 8 of them passed, but he didn't know whether to be happy or sad, because the one who failed was his own son.

Helpless, frantic, and crazy, Wen Huijun's distorted facial expressions and slightly exaggerated body movements reflect the real psychological activities of many workers under the calm mask. However, after leaving the driving school scene, the "Wen God" in life decided to "do whatever it takes to make the babies feel happy and joyful." So, a middle-aged man with a vicissitudes of life danced a funny dance of a spirited young man, with smooth steps, standard gestures, flexible movements, and precise timing, so much so that a user in the comment area asked: "Why do I always see this snake-like man?"

As for the nights alone, they belong to the "Wenhuijun". As of press time, the account has over 1.56 million followers and has published 21 works, all of which consist of a selfie with a reservoir or night sky as the background, a copy that exudes the aroma of emotional chicken soup, and a sad and decadent melody. This is also the main material library for the phenomenon of swiping the circle of friends.

The three accounts are equivalent to Wen Huijun's three personalities: when he is at work, he is full of positive energy and forced to be motivated. It is not surprising that he gets crazy occasionally; when he is resting, he entertains himself and completely lets go, without fear of other people's eyes; when it is late at night, he suddenly becomes depressed, and there is always a small thing that stimulates his tear glands. This is the norm for contemporary young people, but for a middle-aged man, it is somewhat unexpected. "Lian Wen Huijun Driver Service Department" once responded to fans' questions about "Uncle, do you have common topics with your peers?" through a video of a middle finger making a heart shape. In the comment section of this video, another fan left a message: "Uncle is the topic of my peers."

2. Who created the “Wen Huijun” phenomenon?

Indeed, overnight, Wen Huijun became a social network sensation in a baffling way. His three Douyin accounts, as well as the Douyin account of "Nizi" "Wen Zihan", have all seen a surge in data, with a total number of fans exceeding 6.4 million. In addition, the account profile of "Wen Shen" corresponds to the new account of the same name "Wen Huijun". In the comment area of ​​the pinned video of the latter, "Wen Huijun", who already has more than 100,000 fans, said that "this account will continue to be updated in the future." Not only that, high-imitation accounts are also constantly trying to share the popularity brought by Wen Huijun.

The aforementioned person mentioned to the power plant that Wen Huijun has not signed any MCN contract yet, and several accounts are mainly operated by the father and son, who hope to "do a good job of the accounts and bring happiness to everyone." In his opinion, Wen Huijun himself is "good at thinking" and Wen Zihan is also "a very smart guy." "They could foresee that they would attract attention step by step, but it was really unexpected that they became so popular and so popular so quickly."

According to Feigua data, from December 18 to 20, Wen Huijun and his son broadcast live four times through the "Wen Shen" account, with a 2.676 million fan increase in seven days and a 655,000 live broadcast fan increase. Among them, the number of viewers for the two live broadcasts on December 18 exceeded 20 million, and the data on December 19 exceeded 30 million. Previously, the number of viewers for "Wen Shen"'s live broadcasts was around a few hundred thousand.

Becoming popular means a surge in traffic, and traffic is directly linked to monetization. On December 18, the number of people online at the same time in the "Wen Shen" live broadcast room quickly rushed to 100,000. On the 19th, the peak number of people online at the same time reached more than 600,000. Gift special effects continued to flash on the screen, which was no less than the previous PK between Xiucai and Yixiao Qingcheng.

Specifically, gifts such as "Porsche", "Private Jet", "Douyin No. 1", and "Carnival" will cost 1,200 Douyin coins, 3,000 Douyin coins, 10,001 Douyin coins, and 30,000 Douyin coins respectively - based on the equation of 10 Douyin coins to 1 yuan, their unit prices are 120 yuan, 300 yuan, 1,000 yuan, and 3,000 yuan respectively.

The live broadcast itself was nothing new. The two swayed and hummed along to the melody, and when they received tips, they put their hands together and bowed to express their gratitude. The background music and shouts of "Thank you, big brother" were intertwined, and the cycle continued. Although the dance moves were no different from those in the short video, the difference was that this time, the smiles were no longer fleeting.

Wen Huijun, who just became popular, is like Yu Wenliang, who gradually fell into obscurity after "going viral". They are both phenomenal "ordinary internet celebrities" who were accidentally created with the traffic of short video platforms. As they became popular at a rocket-like speed and do not seem to have long-term promoters, even those who have joined the WeChat Moments communication chain find it difficult to understand why they have been promoted to the top.

In the view of the above-mentioned person, Wen Huijun's road to becoming an Internet celebrity has both accidental and inevitable factors. The former is the popularity of the "Subject Three" dance, and the latter is the content's fit with the current user's emotions. "The content he posted caters to young people, and middle-aged people are not disgusted, and they think this guy is quite interesting. In fact, it provides emotional value to the public."

In 1976, British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins first proposed the term "Meme" in his book The Selfish Gene. Twenty years later, his colleague Daniel Dennett described it as "the crane of culture" in his book Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life. In other words, compared to genes in biological inheritance, memes are a unit of cultural transmission. Based on the imitation and replication of ideas, behaviors, and styles, a certain culture can quickly spread to a wider range.

Perhaps this can be used as an explanation for the "viral spread" phenomenon of Wen Huijun's quotations. After all, "the essence of human beings is a repeater." Moreover, as he said, "the weather is getting colder, and so is my heart." Who doesn't need to go crazy?

(All pictures in this article are from Wen Huijun’s Douyin account.)

Reporter: He Chang, Editor: Gao Yulei

Source: WeChat public account "Power Plant"