Online shrines for 8216;death networking8217;

In the end she turned to her computer-savvy teenage son, the Internet, and a new world of online memorials and so-called 8220;death networking8221; to create a fitting tribute.

8220;For most younger people now, the Internet is something they use every day and online memorials are a natural evolution,8221; she told Reuters.

Candy8217;s virtual memorial to her daughter was one of the starting blocks for what some call the latest 8220;e-trend8221; in Britain.

Candy now runs a Web site, alwaysberemembered.co.uk, on which she offers the bereaved a way of paying tribute to their dead. Users create a memorial page with pictures, poems and tributes which can be visited, viewed and added to by anyone who feels a need.

Teenage Stabbings

Online shrines have been popular in the United States for some years, but in Britain they have only recently begun to grow in popularity 8212; in part because of a spate of fatal stabbings and shootings among teenagers.

8220;In the past year there have been some very high profile stabbings and gun murders among young people and they have fuelled massive growth on our site,8221; says Nicola Davis, site manager of gonetoosoon.co.uk, one of Britain8217;s largest online memorials.

Like Candy8217;s site, Gone Too Soon began as a small, personal memorial site but has grown overwhelmingly since it was set up in November 2005. It now has tributes to more than 13,000 people and says more than 100 are added each day.

Founder Terry George points out that while the site8217;s celebrities inevitably draw the online crowds 8212; there are memorials to the likes of Princess Diana and even Elvis 8212; thousands of messages are also posted for the unknown dead.

He is convinced the main attraction of the site is that it offers a release for the emotions of the bereaved.

8220;I quite often sit and read it. I feel for people. It is quite morbid but you can feel the pain people are going through,8221; he says.

8220;What I think about is, where else would they be releasing this pain, anger and frustration if they didn8217;t have this site?8221;

8220;Virtual candles8221; are lit almost every day on gonetoosoon by friends of Adam Regis, a 17-year-old who was stabbed and left to die in an east London In March.

And for 15-year-old Billy Cox, shot in his bedroom in south London in February, new messages of sadness and anger pop up by the hour.

One posted by 8220;lil8217; gangsta squeaky8221; on Aug. 18 shows how such sites are not only used as shrines, but have increasingly become a forum for 8220;death networking8221; 8212; a medium for users to discuss everything from gang culture, to suicide, to stillbirth.

8220;I didn8217;t know Billy Cox, but I wanted to be in a gang,8221; it reads. 8220;Then Billy8217;s murder came on TV and that8217;s when I realised life8217;s too short to be in gangs and do drugs and guns and knives and stuff.8221;

Natural Graveyards

Davis says that for a generation which spends so much of its time of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, it is quite natural to mourn and honour dead friends online.

8220;Young people find it easier to express themselves this way. If they had to visit graveyards or go to funerals they wouldn8217;t know what to say, but on the Internet they are more confident and comfortable with saying how they feel.8221;

Online memorials are also 8212; perhaps unintentionally 8212; catching the eye of Britain8217;s environmentally aware.

According to local media reports, authorities in the southern English town of Usk want to set up a memorial Web site to encourage residents to use burial land more efficiently.

Natural graveyards, where headstones and memorial statues are banned, would be paired up with online shrines featuring pictures of the burial plot or views from the grave.

Candy goes as far as to predict online shrines may soon consign cemeteries and graveyards to the past.

8220;Online memorials are good for the environment,8221; she says. 8220;We are running out of space in this country for graves, and cemeteries 8212; well yes, there are some nice ones, but generally speaking you wouldn8217;t want to live next door to one.

8220;With an online memorial, it can be private when I want it to be private, but it is always there, and there is some comfort that no matter where I go, I can go online and see it.8221;