Social media is changing not only how people live but also how they grieve. In 2016, fans of David Bowie and Prince flocked to Twitter and Facebook to mourn the music icons' deaths—the artists became trending topics on various social channels—and to start the collective grieving process.

Imagine watching the following scene unfold on an organization's Twitter feed: Several staff members have been pulled into a meeting and fired. One of them is the brand's social media manager, and she's holding her mobile device. She begins live-tweeting—and not from her personal account: "Just overheard our marketing director (he's staying, folks) ask, ‘How do we shut down Twitter?'"