Posthumous Interactions on Facebook: A Look at Tributes, Legacy Awareness and Discussions among the Living
With the advent of Facebook and its interactive and technological possibilities, relational modalities have been transposed, but also transformed, especially our ability to contact others through a digital identity, in different times and spaces. Through this system, we now remain in touch with the dead, with whom we share this virtual space. Some users even go so far as to continue posting publicly on deceased people’s profiles. This article is about this phenomenon. Based on an analysis of data gathered from public posts and original textual creations published posthumously, collected from the Facebook profiles of deceased people, I established five categories to define the intentions and dynamics underlying these publications. In this text, three of the five categories (Honor and tribute, Legacy awareness, Exchanges among the living) will be presented and discussed in order to shed light on how the relationship to death and mourning is experienced in the age of Facebook.