facebook and death
Just checked my Facebook profile. Once nice feature of Facebook is that it shows you the picture of 6 of your friends, picked randomly (or using some algorithm I have not figured out). I often use it to find out what so and so has been up to lately. All in all it's probably the feature I and many others use the most.
Today, my friend and former colleague Jonathan popped up. Jonathan tragically passed away earlier this summer, at the tender age of 39. Here he is, smiling with a beach in the background. After staring at it for a bit, I clicked and reread some of the nice things people had written on his wall. I also went through the pictures, remembered some shared moments, wondered how his family is dealing. I thought about writing on his wall, but did not really feel up to it. Maybe some day. In the end, I did not get less from visiting Jonathan's profile as I would from visiting anyone else's. Fewer news, but more remembrance and meditation perhaps.
This got me thinking. What happens to your profile when you die? In the case of facebook, it looks like it's business as usual. Everything works. You can actually send friends requests too.
Facebook used to take deceased people's profiles offline and changed the policy by popular demand. That's good. Perhaps a clearer indication of status could be provided, and some features, like messaging or friending, turned off at the request of the family or will executors.
Also, what happens after years of inactivity from the account owner? Some sites freeze or terminate your account if you don't use the site for a long time. Does facebook have such a policy? Will it? If so, will my deceased friends disappear from my profile without asking?
At some point social networks are going to have to deal with this question. Whatever happens, I hope facebook does not take my deceased friends away without asking me.
Today, my friend and former colleague Jonathan popped up. Jonathan tragically passed away earlier this summer, at the tender age of 39. Here he is, smiling with a beach in the background. After staring at it for a bit, I clicked and reread some of the nice things people had written on his wall. I also went through the pictures, remembered some shared moments, wondered how his family is dealing. I thought about writing on his wall, but did not really feel up to it. Maybe some day. In the end, I did not get less from visiting Jonathan's profile as I would from visiting anyone else's. Fewer news, but more remembrance and meditation perhaps.
This got me thinking. What happens to your profile when you die? In the case of facebook, it looks like it's business as usual. Everything works. You can actually send friends requests too.
Facebook used to take deceased people's profiles offline and changed the policy by popular demand. That's good. Perhaps a clearer indication of status could be provided, and some features, like messaging or friending, turned off at the request of the family or will executors.
Also, what happens after years of inactivity from the account owner? Some sites freeze or terminate your account if you don't use the site for a long time. Does facebook have such a policy? Will it? If so, will my deceased friends disappear from my profile without asking?
At some point social networks are going to have to deal with this question. Whatever happens, I hope facebook does not take my deceased friends away without asking me.
Labels: death, facebook, social network
posted by Jacques Belissent at
8:15 PM
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