ABSTRACT

This chapter shows social media tools as communication resources for those who are facing a loss and grieving, as well as the ways in which social media facilitate supportive online communities. It focuses on the future to see what possibilities might exist on and over the horizon with regard to the relationship between death, grief, and mourning, and social media. Although concern has been expressed about the risks faced by vulnerable populations when using social media resources on the internet, there is also value. The chapter explores how social media, and particularly Facebook and other social networking services, function as memorial spaces, and look at how they serve both ill and good. The World Wide Cemetery, created in 1995, is among the first online cemeteries and provides examples of the types of memorialization available online prior to Web 2.0.