22 June 2009
Social Media for Mourners
Posted by robgraham under: Uncategorized .
When a colleague of mine died early this spring he left behind many friends, a young family and his Facebook page. Recently, I saw his picture come up in rotation as one of my Facebook friends. Figuring that his account had gone quiet, I was surprised and rather touched to find that during the months since his passing, several friends and his children had posted messages to him expressing their missing of him and keeping him up-to-date on events that were taking place in their lives.
I found the action very poignant and started to wonder if this wasn’t a natural way to grieve the passing of people that we love. To me, it seems to be the modern equivalent of standing in the cemetery and talking to a grave marker but also allows those thoughts to be shared with other friends and family.
As a social media tool, communicating with dead loved ones will probably never be a killer app but it’s nice to see that these tools still allow us to express our humanness and to help us feel less alone during those times when we most need to be together.
One Comment so far...
Bob Bessette Says:
24 June 2009 at 5:19 pm.
Hi Rob,
I think that it is great that people are leaving poignant messages to their departed relatives. I lost my brother about 10 years ago and I used to write him long letters when I was younger. It would’ve been therapeutic for me to be able to write something to him after his passing. I did deliver a eulogy which was very difficult as his passing was unexpected. My aunt, who is a psychiatrist, agreed that reading a eulogy was great therapy for me after my brother’s loss. I think any form of grieving is good and its nice to know that some of the “facebook”-type apps are being used in a positive manner.