What will happen to the Facebook accounts of those who have passed away? Before you die, you are able to make a decision to either leave your account as a memorialized account or have your account permanently deleted from the platform. You can say that this Facebook service (Memorialized Accounts) is a new type of grave culture (fitting Aries' "your death" attitude towards the deceased), since bereaved family/friends can mourn for the dead person through his/her Facebook account.

As Ariès states, in the middle ages cemeteries were places where the bereaved venerated a person who passed away (Ariès, 1974). The bereaved often left text and messages on the tomb to refer to the dead person, which are seen as signs of presence.  

© Tatsuya Ishikawa

Figure.1 – The cemetery in Tilburg

In the digital era, the bereaved can remember and celebrate a dead person through memorialized accounts such as those on Facebook. In these accounts, the contents that the deceased person posted(e.g. posts, pictures, videos) remain on the platform, unless he/she chose to delete the account. Of course, the bereaved will still visit actual cemeteries, but they can also use the account to gather and share memories.  

In the middle ages, there were cemetery parks where family and friends could visit and bring flowers to the dead person. Likewise, family and friends can virtually visit a “digital tomb” to meet the dead person though the platform. Although there are no physical monuments such as graves in the digital community, people are able to visit Facebook accounts to remember and mourn the dead person in the same way as people visit cemeteries. 

Refferences

https://www.facebook.com/help/1506822589577997  

Ariès , P. (1974). Philippe Aries - Western Attitudes Toward Death-Marion Boyars. London: The Johns Hopkins University Press