Assessing Support for Mortality: An Environmental Scan of Online Platforms

Though online platforms have begun to include support for end-of-life needs, their development has been piecemeal and varies from platform to platform. Recent social computing research has examined end-of-life support on social media platforms and platforms specifically designed for grief and remembrance. However, understanding the functional end-of-life support provided by a wider array of platforms is needed to identify the most urgent design priorities beyond social media and remembrance-specific platforms. In this study, we present the results of a large-scale, multi-platform analysis of end-of-life support, summarizing the current state and identifying gaps as of April 2023. This study helps identify priorities to guide platform design and future research by identifying the current state of existing end-of-life support and gaps in that support.