R.I.P.: Remain in perpetuity. Facebook memorial pages

摘要

Facebook is not only a virtual space to commune with the living, it is also a place to honor, memorialize, and engage in dialogs with the deceased. This study examines 550 memorial pages on Facebook for age, gender, race, and cause of death of the memorialized, as well as to whom the communication is addressed. Where ritualistic memorials and mourning practices usually occur in cemeteries or at the sites of accidents, memorial sites on Facebook offer an alternative space to mourn that is public, collective, and with archival capabilities. Individual dialogs and memories in this alternative space are not private, and often involve direct communications with the deceased. In this way, the dead never really die; rather perpetually remain in a digital state of dialogic limbo.