Social networks are transforming the way we mourn our dead

Facebook is best suited for memorialising a deceased person's virtual personality, says the author

The other day I got a Facebook reminder about a former colleague’s birthday. This is not unusual, of course. The birthdays of those with whom I am connected on FB pop up daily on my notifications. But this time Facebook was reminding me about the birthday of someone who passed away a few years ago. He was a popular and much loved person and he went too soon, succumbing to a dread disease that ravaged him with ferocious speed. I went to his Facebook wall and found that his many friends and colleagues had posted messages in his memory, reminiscing