The Stages of Twitter Grief of Celebrity Deaths

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I’d like to start this off by saying “Rest in Peace” to legendary soul singer, Teena Marie, who passed yesterday, apparently in her sleep. It seems we’re losing our icons all the time now. Who’s gonna replace them? Well that’s another topic for another day.

But not only did Teena’s death remind me of the fragility of life, but it also alerted me to something I hadn’t fully thought through before. Like any seemingly major news nowadays, Teena’s death broke on Twitter, in 140 characters. And what ensued after news of her death was announced was one of the messiest, most confusing hours I’ve ever spent on that microblogging network we know as “the Twittah.”

This led me to analyze the process of grieving on Twitter when celebrities die. It’s the same cycle each time, and it’s highly dramatic every single time. For hours straight, my timeline proceeds to explode in theatrics and hysterics. It never fails. So walk with me as I explore this process of Twitter grief, using Teena Marie’s death as an example of what goes down.

Rumor of celebrity death –> arguments bout validity of sources —> confirmation from major news source-> grief -> argument bout how folks grieve

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