Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube are just a handful of social media platforms an estimated 4.9 billion people use worldwide as of 2023. With such a tremendous number of users, social media provides the ideal opportunity to spread news, whether about a new medical advancement, an accident bound to put someone in the hospital, or, more commonly, entertaining content. 

That being said, social media also hosts a different type of content: tragedy. Tragic events occur on a global, national, and local scale, from natural hazards to unspeakable crimes. Oftentimes, sharing these catastrophes on a public stage allows more people to connect over the grieving experience. However, it also creates skepticism as to whether users who involve themselves with this type of content are showing genuine displays of care or simply a disconnected form of empathy. Some even say social media has led to the “Dianafication" of public mourning: how social media has increased public grieving tenfold, but with the underlying motive of self-advertising — just as we have seen on the anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. Social media’s platform to publicize our personal thoughts promotes this public grieving. Ultimately, it has changed how people deal with tragedy, whether for better or worse. 

Social media has numerous integrated features that encourage public grieving post-tragedy, causing many to rely heavily on these platforms and find solace in anonymous internet peers. In 2015, Facebook introduced a new feature to its platform: temporary profile pictures. It allows users to change their profile picture for their choice of time. Whether for a few hours or a span of weeks, profile pictures can be used to bring awareness to certain causes or show support for tragic events. Facebook also gives users the liberty to change their profile picture an unlimited amount of times. The Pew Research Center, in 2016, found that 18% of US social media users changed their profile pictures solely to bring attention to a social or political issue like the Black Lives Matter Movement, terrorist attacks, or the Paris Attacks back in 2015. While this feature certainly brings attention to tragic events and is mainly used with good intentions, it also speaks to our short-lived empathy, only lasting as long as the profile picture stays up before disappearing forever. It shows the fast-paced nature of tragedy — when news of one catastrophe dies down, another shows up to replace it. At the very least, one thing that fortunately hasn’t changed is the number of people always prepared to take up the cause and bring global awareness to it. 

Secondly, hashtags are a common feature among all social media platforms. They are meant to help users find a community interested in similar topics and events. However, some users may abuse them as an easy way to bring in social media traffic, creating superficial posts about tragedies to take advantage of vulnerable, grieving victims. Similar to hashtags, emojis are another popular characteristic of social media. Emojis are a controversial method to express emotion regarding a tragedy. In 2015, Facebook introduced a new set of emojis in addition to the like button. This latest addition was a way to express a more specific reaction to a tragic event, rather than the like button, which could take on many different meanings. Adam Mosseri, the head of Facebook's news feed, stated that this would make it easier for people to express themselves without having to “comment.” This itself reveals the double-edged sword of dealing with tragedy online. The emojis give people a larger spectrum of emotions for engaging with tragic events, but simultaneously allow people to show the minimum requirement of sympathy and still earn others’ approval. It’s seemingly easier to compartmentalize all the emotions required into one yellow cartoon face. In reality, this gesture overshadows the sentiment a post was intended to arouse, even if the user held genuine concern for the event. 

Profile pictures, hashtags, and emojis are all ways to interact with users across social media platforms. Using these outlets, people have adapted how they deal with tragedy. When the Titan submersible incident ended five lives, social media turned it into an entertainment event. In contrast, when news of the Manchester bombings at an Ariana Grande concert reached the internet, users retweeted missing person reports, donated food, and encouraged others to help out the victims. We handle personal tragedies with care and concern, and global tragedies that get entangled in the bottomless hole of social media should be dealt with in the same manner. Social media has given us numerous tools to aid in internet mourning, but it is up to us to utilize it responsibly. The desire for clicks, likes, and comments can be saved for the next post. 

This article was edited by Grace Hur.