Coping with Death on Facebook

Lately, we have been discussing the role of death on Facebook. Fortunately, I have never had a very close friend die and have their Facebook memorialized. Yet, I can tell a story about an interesting occurrence for the senior class at CUA when a student who had left after first semester freshman year passed away.

Charles Genner lived on Spellman 2 with a lot of us freshman year. Although I was not really close to him, I knew that he was a really good guy, and that he was very well liked by everyone on the floor. I am not really sure why he left after first semester, but I know that a lot of us were sad to see him go. Well time passed, and unfortunately, no one from CUA really kept in touch with him. Therefore, when Charles passed away on March 14, 2009, no one from the CUA community knew, and it was not until more than a year after his death did people realize that Charles had passed. In complete shock, I looked at his Facebook profile, and especially his wall, which was now being suddenly flooded with condolences from CUA. The thing that surprised me the most was that people from CUA had wished him Happy Birthday a few months earlier not knowing that he had died.

Looking at the big picture, I am not really sure what can be taken away from this story besides that you should try your best to stay in touch with people. Yet, in terms of Facebook, I can see the benefits of keeping your Facebook after you have passed. If not for Facebook, no one from CUA would have ever found out about his death, and I think that having a place to visit and recall memories is a great way to remember someone who has died.

This also raises an interesting question. How will Facebook remember deceased users? Will they list the anniversary of someone's death just like they would someone's birthday? Will they do a better job at notifying friends of a death? These questions will likely continue to press on as Facebook continues to grow and gain more users, especially among the elderly.