What happens to your Facebook account after you die? It’s not like you write in your will who takes over your Facebook account if you die. How many Facebook users have a will at all?
In the past week, Facebook security has published exactly what happens to the deceased person’s profile, so they are protected and the family has final say on what happens to their online identity.
If someone passes away, family or friends have to fill out this form, proving that you’ve indeed passed away.
According to Facebook, four things happen to your Facebook profile when you die:
1. Your account is sealed from any future log-in attempts.
2. You are taken off public search results.
3. Your wall is left open for friends and family to post on.
4. Status updates won’t show up in news feed
When Facebook launched a recent update, users were upset that they had friends who were deceased suggested for them to reconnect with.
“We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it’s important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized,” Max Kelly, Facebook’s head of security said in an October 26th blog post.
The official word on what happens to a memorialized account:
“When an account is memorialized, we also set privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search. We try to protect the deceased’s privacy by removing sensitive information such as contact information and status updates. Memorializing an account also prevents anyone from logging into it in the future, while still enabling friends and family to leave posts on the profile Wall in remembrance.”
Families do have the right to have the account removed. According to Time, “If relatives prefer not to have the profile stand as an online memorial, Facebook says it will remove the account altogether.”
According to Time, a privacy commissioner was “quite pleased” with Facebook’s response to the office’s concerns about what happens after someone passes away and in the article they mention how Facebook has a better, more thorough policy than MySpace.
Our Take:
Personally I’ve always been drawn to Facebook profiles of people I knew who passed away. It’s sad and touching to read all the kind words their friends and family write to them and it’s important to have a venue for loved ones to get that emotion out. If I were to die young or one of my friends did, I’d hope their family would memorialize their account and let their loved ones have a place to grieve together.
That said, it strikes me as horribly sad when people will post on a dead friend’s wall on a weekly basis, speaking to them as if they’re still reading their Facebook wall. You can’t tell someone how to grieve, but I want to tell them “You’re writing for their living friends and family. No matter what afterlife you believe in, I’m pretty sure they don’t allow you to log into Facebook. Write to the person’s friends and family who you know are reading this. Share memories with them. Writing to the person themselves is so delusional.”
Writing something along the lines of, “I’m crying b/c I miss you Jeffy. Loved you. Thank you for always being so supportive and trying to make me feel better when I was nervous. You’re missed hun” is kind of absurd, isn’t it? I don’t want to tell you how to grieve, but maybe consider writing to your audience.
