Internet Deaths Increase

By combining data from the CDC distribution, the CIA’s statistics on American population, and Facebook user statistics, 1000Memories calculated that approximately 400,000 American Facebook users will die in 2010. Although 1000Memories doesn’t know how many of these accounts will be “memorialized,” evidence suggests that most are not—they simply continue to exist past their user’s life.

As death on the internet becomes more prevalent, 1000Memories hopes to help families and friends remember loved ones in a more substantial and meaningful way. Its creators generated the site after several of their friends passed away. They realized that technology had the potential to help people come together when someone dies, and that other internet sites weren’t taking advantage of this potential. 1000Memories enables users to create a space to share photos and stories of the loved ones they want to remember.

See Jonathan Good, The Rise of the Dead: How Many Ghosts are on Facebook?, 1000Memories, Nov. 18, 2010. See also Jonathan Good, NY Times and Why We Created 1000Memories, 100Memories, July 19, 2010.