The NY Times ran an interesting article (click here) on the front page of today's Sunday Times about Facebook and its handling of death.  We created 1000Memories after the passing of several of our own friends and family helped us realize both the power of technology to help people come together when someone dies as well as how imperfectly the Internet handles death today.  

The NY Times article highlights how Facebook has "been grappling with how to handle the ghosts in its machine," but it has not yet found a good solution.  After a friend passes away, it can feel jarring to be invited to "reconnect" with them.  At the same time, our Facebook accounts have become important repositories that document our lives during the last few years, and it is important to give family and friends access to this rich and moving content.

Watching death play out on Facebook highlighted to us the need for a different tone and more personal space to help people grieve and remember. We felt that there should be a respectful, uninhibited focus on the person and their life, and the design of 1000Memories is anchored around this – every person is front and center with a full screen photo.

We also realized that a different set of tools offers the chance to create a place where every person can be remembered forever in a wonderfully rich level of detail. Everyone holds a sliver of someone’s life and letting everyone share those slivers can create a wonderful place to vividly remember someone. Reading the stories that a friend shared, or seeing the photos that you didn’t know existed from a relative can bring to life moments in your memory and offer a way to remember someone that a gravestone never will.

Despite Facebook's overwhelming success, it still only covers a fraction of people’s lives. I joined Facebook in 2005, yet my childhood and adolescence are not part of my internet footprint. Remembering someone needs to extend past their social media presence of the past few years to the memories and photos that aren’t digital. Writing down your memories and scanning the photos tucked away in albums and boxes let everyone share in them, whereever they are. And most deaths still don’t unfold on Facebook. 75% of those who die in the US this year will be over 65 and not on Facebook. The stories and photos from their lives are not digital but they could be. 

Technology allows us an amazing opportunity to remember and honor our loved ones, but we need the right set of tools. A common urge when someone passes is to want to do something to honor them; be that planting a tree, naming a trophy or starting a foundation. All of this should be made easier by the internet. Facebook can quickly spread the news of someone’s passing but it doesn’t allow people to connect to do something to affirm someone’s life. That’s why we've created a Projects section; to unleash this latent desire to do something positive in a loved one's memory.

We are just getting started, and we have a long road to travel to achieve our vision.  But we have been heartened and inspired by the positive response we have received thus far.  Thanks to Jenna Wortham of the NY Times for writing a great piece about this issue.