As Halloween draws near, our thoughts turn to the more macabre areas of the imagination. While visions of ghouls, goblins, vampires (no, not the sparkly Twilight kind) and zombies creep into my mind, the celebration of the darker nature of humanity eventually brought me to thoughts about death. Sure, social media helps people connect to meet up for coffee, attend conferences or find a good place to buy shoes, but how does it help us cope with death? I had no idea, so I set out to discover how support groups are using social media these days.

The Compassionate Friends , a support group for families dealing with the death of a child, has gone beyond a standard support site and added a Facebook page. You can leave videos, upload photos and participate on their discussion board to help build a community on a site you already visit regularly. Their discussion page is very active with many people offering up stories and advice about their experiences.

Pocket Cemetery is an iPhone app that lets you create memorials to your lost friends and relatives (or beloved celebrities and pets). You can create customizable virtual gravestones, send virtual flowers and send prayers and messages.

This is the only iPhone app I could find in this area. As death is something that touches us all, without exception, I’d expect to see a lot more effort to cater to our need to cope in the future.

People often turn to religion in their grieving. Tangle, a Christian lifestyle site, has embraced Web 2.0 technology. They’ve launched an online prayer wall that allows you to share videos, photos, leave prayers and have someone add their own support for you. They allow you to share your prayers through Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and via email and Twitter. Tangle is very active within the Christian community, and with comments posted on almost every prayer, many people are finding the community support they need.

Muxlim.tv is the world’s largest Muslim lifestyle site. On it, you can read blogs, watch videos, listen to prayers, take polls and a whole lot more. It’s a social media haven for Muslim’s online. Once you register, you create a personal profile, which appears to be a cross between Facebook and MySpace.

But what about those of us who aren’t religious? Experience Project is for anyone regardless of religious preference – or lack thereof. You can create a group to talk about your experiences where others can comment and offer support, insight and help. Each group has its own built-in support system that helps create a support community.

Dealing with the death of a loved one is never easy, but with the help of social media many people are finding it a little less painful.

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media and won't shut up about Twitter.