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Grief on the Internet
>There is a very active discussion area going on at GeoCities
>(http://www.geocities.com/cgi-bin/bb/message/40) about the death of
>Princess Diana. Rather than create content, we opened an area for people to
>create their own. The site was up within about five minutes after the
>confirmation of the princess' death. The postings started so quickly that
>the first one went up before I could even post the welcoming message. The
>link from the GeoCities home page wasn't installed until about noon on
>Sunday, Pacific time.
I think one of the most unique functions the internet plays is allowing
users to express grief for public figures.
Usually when people cite the internet as a community, they use the death or
loss of a participant as an example.
However, I think the death of a celebrity is more apt example for several
reasons:
1. Sometimes there is no one in your immediate family or social circle who
appreciates your sense of loss so it is helpful to find other like-minded
people somewhere to let you know you're not alone.
2. The internet allows to you make some public display of your grief. Fans
like to leave flowers at accident scenes, visit graves, etc., to feel a
part of the mourning. The internet also allows them to do this.
3. Exchanging messages allows you to talk about your loss until you get it
out of your system.
I've been involved in discussions after the death of Jacqueline Onassis and
also Sergei Grinkov, a much loved figure skater who unexpectedly dropped
dead of a heart attack. The latter case was a particularly good example of
internet mourning because although his death had a profound impact on the
skating community, it was not especially important to those who don't
follow the sport. Many members of the skating mailing list immediately
sought solice by posting messages. Generally they ran to, "I am shocked and
I don't know what else to say." And then after a few days, people did start
sharing their favorite memories of him.
At the same time, I would caution any newspaper from setting up a grief
site that appears to be exploitive. Fans want information about the
celebrity who has just died and they will usually buy memorable editions of
magazines and books, but the publishing company has to appear that it, too,
feels a sense of loss. Fans want to believe that writers were motivated by
grief rather than avarice
In the case of Katya Gordeeva (Grinkov's widow), the death of her husband
very much pushed her into the public spotlight, but the impetus came from
her fellow skaters and her fans rather than her agents. For example, there
was an extremely moving tribute show organized by other skaters and
televised on CBS. It was so popular that the network received many
requests for video copies. (The network rebroadcast the show, instead.)
About a year later, Gordeeva's book, "My Sergei" , came out--which was one
of the top 10 best selling non-fiction books of 1996. Projects related to
Gordeeva have been well-received because her fans feel that she is willing
to share her life with them while at the same time determined to move on
with her life and not become a public widow. There isn't the sense that
agents and publishers are using her as "content."
Bottom line--the death of public figures reinforces the community building
aspects of the internet, but should not be used to tout the commercial
potential of the internet. (And God forbid that a grief site is used to
hype some new technology.) The celebrity must be treated with reverence.
This is even more critical on an interactive site than in a traditional
print or broadcast medium because you are inviting people in to participate.
Suzanne
_____________________________________
Suzanne Lainson
SportsTrust
Marketing: Integrated/Sports and Event/Online
P.O. Box 2071 Boulder, CO 80306
303 473-9884
slainson@sportstrust.com
_____________________________________
For a free subscription to SPORTS NEWS YOU CAN USE, send me an email.
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