As technology evolves, so is the need to adapt our lifestyle to new conditions. Nowadays, when you think of death, you no longer worry only about leaving your loved ones and the need to make a will. In this day and age, a new question arises with the subject of death: “Who will take care of my Facebook accout after I die?.“
Well, Facebook found a solution to this problem. Users in the United States are now able to appoint a friend or a family member in charge of managing their accounts after they have passed away.
On Thursday, Feb. 12, Facebook presented the “legacy contact”. Through this feature, Facebook would be informed of the account holder’s death and would turn the profile of the deceased into a memorial page. Then the person who was chosen as administrator of the page in case of death, would be informed about the permission granted to him or her by the deceased.
Vanessa Callison-Burch, Facebook product manager said how family members want to “communicate information about the memorial service with this person’s friends” and that this was the simplest and most effective way to do it.
In order for other users to be informed about someone’s death, the memorial page will have the word “remembering” placed before the name of the recently deceased person.
The legacy contact feature allows the caretaker to write and post on the timeline of the memorial page and also accept new friend requests. The new administrator will also be permitted to update the profile, add new cover photos and even download photos, posts and profile information.
The “heir” won’t, however, have access to the person’s messages or have permission to modify account settings.
Up until now, there was only the option of a basic memorialized account that could be viewed but changing anything about the page was not permitted.
Choosing a legacy contact will, of course, be optional. There is also the alternative of having your Facebook profile permanently erased after death.
The feature is currently availible in the U.S with no information regarding its release in other countries.
The subject of a Facebook user’s online presence after the person passed away is still in debate after several years.
Image Source: Fb Newsrooms
