Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


3529.pdf (400.77 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Life After Death on Facebook

Lippert, Alexandra
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377866278

Abstract Details

2013, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Communication.
Friends and family utilizing the Facebook page of the deceased for grieving is a recent phenomena. This study aimed to explore motivations for bereaved family and friends to communicate on Facebook pages and Memorial pages.. For this study, a qualitative approach was adopted, combining the thematic analysis of two Facebook pages of deceased individuals and one Facebook Memorial page, and a series of seven interviews with family and friends of the deceased. This study found that, together, the two dominant themes found on the Facebook and Memorial pages (1) Continuing a Relationship with the Deceased, and (2) Supporting the Grieving, and the five themes found in the interviews (1) Supportive Acts, (2) Continuing the Memory of the Deceased, (3) Monitoring the Bereaved, (4) Separating the Page from the Person, and (5) Emotional Processing indicate that Facebook supplies the bereaved with a unique forum for fostering social support from both strong and weak ties. Motivations (themes) expressed by interviewees often did not align with the themes observed on the Facebook pages. Implications for future research on these inconsistencies is discussed. Overall, Facebook was found to be a place where the bereaved felt they, and others, could process grief without negative judgment. In contrast to the in-person conversational taboo —where family and friends rarely feel comfortable discussing the deceased —talking about the deceased on Facebook was not only accepted, but often viewed as affirming by the bereaved. Facebook has opened the door to more open communication that family and friends can utilize after the passing of a loved one.
Stephen Haas, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Nancy Jennings, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Teresa Chandler Sabourin, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
61 p.
Communication
death; grief; Facebook; social support

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lippert, A. (2013). Life After Death on Facebook [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377866278

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lippert, Alexandra. Life After Death on Facebook. 2013. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377866278.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lippert, Alexandra. "Life After Death on Facebook." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377866278

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1377866278
513
© 2013, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Life After Death on Facebook by Alexandra Lippert is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.