The Grand Views

Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: News

More than two years after the death of Grand View student Zack Thomas, his friends still wish him Happy Birthday on his Facebook wall. "Happy birthday bro, not a day goes by that we don't think (about) or remember you…," says one. "Still thinking of you," reads another. Countless more are similarly worded.

Thomas would have been 24 years old this year if a tragic car accident on Interstate 35 hadn't taken his life as he drove to Des Moines from a 2007 Iowa State game in Ames.

The comments on his Facebook wall show that Thomas' friends still mourn him.

It's likely that not many of his hundreds of friends are able to visit his grave as much as they visit his profile, but both acts are similar demonstrations of remembrance. It shows how social sites are changing the way we live and the way we grieve.

And some newly-publicized Facebook procedures addressing what happens to a profile after the person has died are accommodating users who have lost someone, like Thomas' friends.

One of those friends, Rohan Greaves, business administration senior, uses Facebook often to tell Thomas he misses him or when something reminds Greaves of his friend.

"He was always smiling and having a good time," Greaves said. "I think it's a great way to still feel like you can be in touch with those who have left us."

Greaves, however, has not visited Thomas' grave. He says he wants to, but that it is located far away and that having Thomas' Facebook wall still available on which to write memories is a way he can remember Thomas.

"It's also nice to have the photos still available," Greaves said. "It's nice to be able to look through them."

The memories that photographs bring back and the comfort that a Facebook wall might have is something the social site's creators say they want to preserve even after a user passes away.

It's called memorializing a profile and it works like this: family and friends who have lost a loved one can contact Facebook and put certain privacy procedures in place.

The family member or friend must first send an obituary or news article to Facebook staff to prove the person has actually died, according to the policy. Staff also monitors the profile to verify the claim is not false by ensuring the user has not recently logged in.

The profile is then memorialized, which means no one can log in and only confirmed friends can see the person's profile or locate it in a search. The procedures also keep the person from appearing in the newly-formed "Suggestions" column, according to a recent blog post by Facebook employee Max Kelly.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools