Mourning 2.0—Continuing Bonds Between the Living and the Dead on Facebook

Abstract

This study examines the burgeoning phenomenon of Facebook memorial pages and how this research about online social networking environments can contribute to the existing literature related to Klass, Silverman, and Nickman (1996) continuing bonds thesis. I argue that memorial pages constitute a new ritualized and public space for maintaining these continued bonds and that individuals exhibit several types of bonding interactions with the deceased. I conducted a content analysis on a purposively selected sample of 12 public Facebook “pages” where I coded 1,270 individual Wall postings. Analyses demonstrated that many individuals routinely used these Walls to continue their relationships with the deceased. Findings revealed several Wall posting categories, “guidance from beyond and reunion with the deceased,” “messages and visitations from the deceased,” and “conversations with the deceased,” which I then combined under a central thematic heading of “paranormal copresence.” There were 267 Wall postings coded under “guidance and reunion,” 26 for “messages and visitations,” and 340 for “conversations,” with the total of 633 Wall postings under the central thematic heading of paranormal copresence. This research highlights how individuals have transcended the limitations of time and physical space in relation to traditional bereavement behavior and rituals and how data found on public websites, such as Facebook, can be used to further theorize bereavement and to demonstrate continue bonds between the living and the dead.