You Have not Disappeared: Digital Mourning Spaces After a Social Media Celebrity’s Self-Obituary

On May 5, 2022, a food blogger named Yishiji (一食纪) with over 700,000 followers on the Chinese social media platform Bilibili, posted a farewell video expressing his struggles as a gay man and his lack of attachment to the world. Shortly thereafter, it was confirmed that he had died by suicide, sparking widespread discussion across social media. Over three years later, his self-obituary continues to foster significant engagement, leading to a unique digital mourning space. Drawing on theories of obituary and digital mourning, this study analyzes the digital mourning spaces generated by self-obituaries on social media platforms through a case study of Yishiji. Employing multimodal discourse analysis and latent Dirichlet allocation thematic analysis, the research identifies four key features characterizing this emergent digital mourning space: sustained spatial content production; precise spatio-temporal dialogue, notably through the danmu feature; functional zoning of semi-open spaces; and its profound capacity to facilitate self-communication and connection among mourners. The study argues that such digital mourning spaces formed by self-obituaries are not merely extensions of traditional physical mourning rituals; rather, they constitute a novel democratic memorial institution co-constructed by the deceased’s obituary, user-generated content, and the platform’s algorithmic logic. This research enhances our understanding of how digital platforms transform mourning practices. It emphasizes the potential of digital mourning spaces to foster inclusive environments for expression and connection, providing valuable insights into the evolving nature of grief in the digital age.