Connecting with the past through social media: the ‘Beautiful buildings and cool places Perth has lost’ Facebook group

Abstract

This article examines responses to the loss of heritage places through an analysis of a Facebook group, ‘Beautiful buildings and cool places Perth has lost’, which includes photos and discussion about buildings and places that have been demolished or obliterated in the city of Perth, Western Australia. In doing so, it grapples with a number of issues; feelings about the loss of heritage, the nature of social media and the social capital it generates, and emotional communities and nostalgia. It argues that in showcasing lost buildings and places from the past, social media such as Facebook enhances both awareness of and collective attachment to the past by facilitating public expression of emotional responses to the past and forming an emotional community that can be utilised to generate the social capital needed to mobilise against the destruction of heritage buildings and places.