A friend told me a few years ago about the death of a mutual childhood friend. I had lost touch with him and his family so I didn’t feel there was much, if anything, I could do. For instance, I wasn’t close enough to call. But I joined a group dedicated to his memory, posted some of my memories and thanked his family for their kindness through our youth. Reading other people’s messages, I could see how loved he was and it made me feel good.
I later looked on the wall and saw a message from his mother that said, “I’m so touched to see you all here and read your messages. It makes me feel close to him.”
I imagine the feeling is rich and meaningful in a way that’s different from visiting the cemetery.
Last October, Facebook added an ability to “memorialize” pages a policy born of the 2007 shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Memorializing pages turns a personal page into a memorial page. The page is only accessible to confirmed friends and sensitive information like phone numbers and status updates are removed to protect the privacy of the individual. Friends can leave messages on the page and look at the deceased person’s wall postings and photos.
If nobody goes through the process of having the page memorialized or taken down, the page lives on indefinitely and can lead to the jarring experience of seeing their photo pop up on your page with a message to “say hello” to them or add them as a friend. Facebook sets up those notifications to get infrequent users more involved so, naturally, people who have died are among those who show up most.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Tags: Facebook, Facebook pages, mutual childhood friend, page