Maintaining Relational Continuity with the Deceased on Facebook

Abstract

Scholars have noted that communication helps maintain relational continuity despite physical absence; yet, the specific role of communication in continuing a relationship with the deceased has not been analyzed. In this study, messages directed to the deceased on Facebook memorial group walls were examined to explore how grieving individuals utilize Facebook memorial groups in order to make sense of the death of a loved one and reconnect with the deceased. Using a grounded theory approach, message topics and apparent grief-related functions served by messages were identified and characterized. Initial observation revealed that grieving individuals wrote to the deceased as if the deceased could read the messages, which is a unique type of communication. The communication written to the deceased individuals appeared to serve two functions for those writing the messages: (1) Sensemaking; and (2) Continuing Bonds, or upholding relational continuity, with the deceased.