Death, Social Media, and Remembrance

It's been nearly two weeks since I last blogged on this site, and I'm still ambivalent about jumping too quickly back into the hamster-wheel of the daily grind.  With my father's recent passing, I just feel the need to go a bit slow.  I'm even skipping, with no shortage of ambivalence, this week's WOMMA conference. That said, I've been quite touched and inspired by the level of social-media enabled outreach and fellowship that's taken place in the wake of my father's passing.  From the modest blog I created dedicated to my father -- now overflowing with comments and testimonials -- to the thoughtful and intimate condolence messages send to me by Facebook "friends," I've seen a side of CGM and social media that I truly value and appreciate.  I summarize some of these thoughts in this morning's leading article in ClickZ entitled "Death, Social Media, and Remembrance."

In recent months, I've been a bit tough on marketers' use of the term "conversation" because I fear our tendency to use, abuse, degrade, and deflate terminology. If anyone embodied the word "conversation" in its truest and authentic sense, it was my father -- and I suppose his discipline in its application codified my righteousness about befouling its essence.   

But...I witnessed something truly remarkable take place in the wake of his death. In the social media currents, his life, contributions, and brand essence, if you will, were dignified, validated, amplified, and shared among many.

The Rise of the Obitupedia:  In a weird way, CGM and social media has introduced a sense of "living permanence" to celebrating one's life.  The new concept that kept surfacing on my radar was Obitupedia, the concept of a living, breathing, collective tribute and mash-up (a "Life-Mash," if you will) one not only one's contributions in the time that he or she actually lived, but the ongoing contributions and legacy they leave to friends and family, or even the causes they supported. With seven kids, thirteen grandchildren (one more on the way), and countless friends he's touched over the years, my dad clearly still lives, and I think social media is setting the stage for the untold story to be, well, told...again and again.  That's a profound and powerful concept.  So within my father's Obitupedia entry, if you will, I and others have managed to piece together a growing medley of revealing and inspiring content, much of it already sitting on the web.  This includes:

• A World War II Reflection Blog We Co-Developed Several Years Ago
• Poetry from His War Service 
• YouTube Reflections on Building a "Secret Pool" in India (during WWII)
• YouTube Commentary by Dad on the "Mad Men" TV Show
• Writings from a Literary Blog (Rudolf's Diner)
• A Hip-Hop/Rap Version of a Poem (in collaboration with my brother in law Evan)
• A Eulogy from His Best Friend Jim Knowles
• A Cooking Demo from Cucina.com on Eggs

And so amidst all our brand and marketing and advertising talk, there might be deeper, more penetrating meaning behind the social media currents.  Twenty years from now, it might just be what we most remember about this age of consumer power and content-creation!