What Happens to Your Facebook Profile When You Die?

Facebook has announced that your profile will live on after you die, retaining the same settings as when you were alive.  This means your memories will remain for everyone to share, including embarrassing moments and larger than life comments.  Until now, the policy has been to restrict a persons page only to their friends after their death.  The decision follows a consultation process with Facebook users over a period of time.

‘We are respecting the choices a person made in life while giving their extended community of family and friends ongoing visibility to the same content they could always see.’

“Some of the people who reach out to us are grieving the death of a friend or family member, and they usually ask for their loved one’s timeline to be memorialised,” the website said.

According to reports in the Daily Mail, Facebook is also going to introduce memorialising videos much like those seen for Facebook’s tenth birthday.

“Over the past several months, we’ve been thinking about and working on better ways for people to remember loved ones.

“As we continue to think through each aspect of memorialisation, we ask ourselves questions that have no easy answers: How might people feel? Are we honouring the wishes and legacy of the person who passed away? Are we serving people who are grieving the loss of a loved one as best we can?”

On Facebook’s website they make very clear their memorialising policy.  Verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account from Facebook, otherwise, no changes can be made unless someone knows your password.  “Please keep in mind that we cannot provide login information for a memorialised account.  It is always a violation of our policies to log into another person’s account.”

Makes me think we should all ensure our Facebook password is documented for our nearest and dearest.  Have you left your Facebook password with someone you would consider “next of kin” with instructions on how you would like it left after you die?