@article {287, title = {Tweeting Prayers and Communicating Grief over Michael Jackson Online}, journal = { Bulletin of Science, Technology, \& Society}, volume = {30}, year = {2010}, pages = {328-340}, abstract = {Death and bereavement are human experiences that new media helps facilitate alongside creating new social grief practices that occur online. This study investigated how people{\textquoteright}s postings and tweets facilitated the communication of grief after pop music icon Michael Jackson died. Drawing upon past grief research, religion and new media studies, a thematic analysis of 1,046 messages was conducted on three mediated sites (Twitter, TMZ.com, and Facebook). Results suggested that social media served as grieving spaces for people to accept Jackson{\textquoteright}s death rather than denying it or expressing anger over his passing. The findings also illustrate how interactive exchanges online helped recycle news and {\textquotedblleft}resurrected{\textquotedblright} the life of Jackson. Additionally, as fans of deceased celebrities create and disseminate web-based memorials, new social media practices like {\textquotedblleft}Michael Mondays{\textquotedblright} synchronize tweets within everyday life rhythms and foster practices to hasten the grieving process. }, keywords = {blogs, celebrity, internet, microblogging, popular culture, religion, social media}, doi = {10.1177/0270467610380010}, url = {http://www.paulinehopecheong.com}, author = {Sanderson, James and Pauline Hope Cheong} }