<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article examines the semiotic implications of social media interactive processes established when Facebook profiles are memorialized following the user’s death. It also observes the communication processes that occur through the deceased’s contacts interactions with the virtual memorial page. It points to Facebook’s symbolic and systemic organization structure role in creating a specific comprehension of online and offline identities in the social media environment. The theoretical framework focuses on C. S. Peirce’s signs and semiosis studies to help understand the communication’s phenomenology revealed in this context as well as the process of continuity of the physical life through its symbolic representations on digital networks.</p>
</abstract>

This article examines the semiotic implications of social media interactive processes established when Facebook profiles are memorialized following the user’s death. It also observes the communication processes that occur through the deceased’s contacts interactions with the virtual memorial page. It points to Facebook’s symbolic and systemic organization structure role in creating a specific comprehension of online and offline identities in the social media environment. The theoretical framework focuses on C. S. Peirce’s signs and semiosis studies to help understand the communication’s phenomenology revealed in this context as well as the process of continuity of the physical life through its symbolic representations on digital networks.

The Continuum of Life on Facebook’s Virtual Memorials

Linguistic Frontiers

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The Continuum of Life on Facebook\u2019s Virtual Memorials"}

This article examines the semiotic implications of social media interactive processes established when Facebook profiles are memorialized following the user’s...

The Continuum of Life on Facebook’s Virtual Memorials

Published Online: Oct 02, 2022

Page range: 15 - 23

Received: Apr 01, 2022

Accepted: May 01, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/lf-2022-0011

Keywords
virtual memorials, Facebook, Peircean semiotics, semiosis, social networks, death

© 2022 Cândida Almeida, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Continuum of Life on Facebook’s Virtual Memorials

Published Online: Oct 02, 2022

Page range: 15 - 23

Received: Apr 01, 2022

Accepted: May 01, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/lf-2022-0011

Keywordsvirtual memorials, Facebook, Peircean semiotics, semiosis, social networks, death

© 2022 Cândida Almeida, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
virtual memorials, Facebook, Peircean semiotics, semiosis, social networks, death