Philip Seymour Hoffman

that the dead can remain socially alive because of their sustained presence in memory and the objects that support it.

“When your heart stops beating, you’ll keep tweeting,”

“If the dead are virtually memorialized, they never really die. The more in-depth the memorial and the greater its permanence, the more the deceased remain with the living.”36

The form and content of posting messages to deceased users on social network sites seem to suggest three beliefs about afterlife: (1) that the deceased can receive electronic communication, (2) that the deceased is in heaven, and (3) that the living user someday will be reunited with the dead.

“[w]hat is happening on the profile pages of the deceased is nothing revolutionary but rather a new and in some ways logical platform for people to memorialize and grieve.”25

A confluence of factors contributes to Facebook becoming the default destination for many to express grief and remember the deceased. First, it delocalizes the deceased’s final resting place so relatives and friends unable to travel for whatever reason are not precluded from having a place to direct their grief.

Although it is convenient to suggest that if the dead are memorialized online, “they never really die,”

References to the deceased user as “in heaven,” “up there,” and “with us in spirit” are common, indicating hope that not only may the dead person observe the activities of the living, she or he also may view digital messages about those events.