Online tribute pages helpful to families




Social networking isn’t just for youths anymore. With websites like Facebook.com tacking on 12.4 million people between ages 35 and 49 in 2008 according to Nielsen, new opportunities are arising that once would be thought of as strange.

William Wellington passed away on Nov. 4, 2006, at the age of 31. His family was in shock, and his best friend and sister, Garden, was distraught and lost. She needed to feel connected to him in some way. She found comfort in a place most would never think to look— the Web. Garden chose to create an online memorial on Tributes.com, never realizing all the comfort that would come from that.

“In the evenings, when it’s quiet in my home, I go online and read the memories of my brother being shared by friends. The stories and messages of condolence give me a live connection to my brother . . . finding any piece of his life story is like finding gold,” the sister said.

Traditionally, when someone passed away, the announcement would run in the newspaper, and only close friends and family would send their messages of condolence. However, with the ubiquity of the Web, grieving is now more than ever a broadly experienced social activity, one where there is great comfort taken in the condolences and sharing of memories with friends and family.

Websites like Tributes.com are allowing more people to participate in the grieving process by accessing an online guestbook.

The technology-familiar baby boomer generation is now entering its 50s and 60s. A generation of storytellers, this group has a desire to perpetuate its history and experiences not only for themselves but for their friends and loved ones.

David Kessler, grief specialist for Tributes.com, said online memorials are popular for several reasons. “Public grief, although thought of as a new phenomenon, is not. From man’s earliest records, people gathered together to share a loss in villages and towns. In modern times, with television, radio and the Internet, we are able to get to know more people in a way we never thought possible. When that person dies, we feel a personal loss, even if he or she is not a member of our family or a close friend.”

Online memorials allow the community to come together and pay tribute, share memories and comfort one another in the grieving and healing process.

This story provided by North
American Precis Syndicate Inc.



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