As Halloween draws
near, our thoughts turn to the more macabre areas of the imagination. While
visions of ghouls, goblins, vampires (no, not the sparkly Twilight kind) and
zombies creep into my mind, the celebration of the darker nature of humanity
eventually brought me to thoughts about death. Sure, social media helps people
connect to meet up for coffee, attend conferences or find a good place to buy
shoes, but how does it help us cope with death? I had no idea, so I set out to
discover how support groups are using social media these days.
The Compassionate
Friends , a support group for families dealing with
the death of a child, has gone beyond a standard support site and added a
Facebook page. You can leave videos, upload photos and
participate on their discussion board to help build a community on a site you
already visit regularly. Their discussion page is very active with many people
offering up stories and advice about their experiences.
Pocket Cemetery is an iPhone app that lets you create memorials to your lost friends and
relatives (or beloved celebrities and pets). You can create customizable
virtual gravestones, send virtual flowers and send prayers and messages.
This is the only
iPhone app I could find in this area. As death is something that touches us
all, without exception, I’d expect to see a lot more effort to cater to our
need to cope in the future.
People often turn to
religion in their grieving. Tangle, a Christian lifestyle site, has embraced Web 2.0 technology. They’ve
launched an online prayer wall that allows you to share videos, photos, leave prayers
and have someone add their own support for you. They allow you to share your
prayers through Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and via email and Twitter. Tangle
is very active within the Christian community, and with comments posted on
almost every prayer, many people are finding the community support they need.
Muxlim.tv is the world’s largest Muslim lifestyle site. On it, you can read blogs, watch
videos, listen to prayers, take polls and a whole lot more. It’s a social media
haven for Muslim’s online. Once you register, you create a personal profile,
which appears to be a cross between Facebook and MySpace.
But what about those
of us who aren’t religious? Experience Project is for anyone regardless of religious
preference – or lack thereof. You can create a group to talk about your experiences
where others can comment and offer support, insight and help. Each group has
its own built-in support system that helps create a support community.
Dealing with the death
of a loved one is never easy, but with the help of social media many people are
finding it a little less painful.
Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media and won't shut up about Twitter.
