There is a very weird feeling that you get when someone dies and you still see them tagged in recent posts in your news feed or you see that their birthday is coming up. The biggest issue when someone dies and they used to have a FB account is that in most cases their relatives are not going to like having to be reminded of this profile because it makes it seem like the person is still alive. Facebook is not meant to be a place that serves as some kind of memorial, but up to this point when Facebook has been notified of someone passing away, the account has been locked, but the contents of the page are still in plain view for those who are in the friends list of the deceased.

There are some people who have always found it creepy to stumble into any posts that include that person that passed away. In some cases this can be extremely disturbing for the relatives because it disrupts their healing process to see posts from that person. A different option that allows people to announce someone who can manage and handle their digital assets, in this case Facebook, is the best course of action in order to make sure that the account is managed properly.

Jeff Brubaker from the University of California said the following:

“Memorialised profiles can be unsettling, particularly right after someone dies. It’s not always clear that someone has died, and details can get buried in the flood of messages that friends post. This concept of stewardship centers on individuals caring for accounts and data they do not own. People’s social media identities persist after they die, and even though no one is managing their profiles, others continue to use these spaces. The most gratifying aspect of Facebook’s new features is knowing that these changes will make Facebook a more supportive space for people during challenging times.”

The first thing that will now be implemented is the prefix “remembering” before the name of the person who died. This is a great way to clarify to anyone who looks at the profile that the person is no longer alive. There will be feature called the legacy contact and it will allow people to have rights to pin post son your timeline, respond to new friend requests, update the profile picture, but they will not be able to see your private messages or post on your timeline on your behalf.

For some people the simple fact of allowing people to continue to send friend requests to a person that has passed away makes no sense at all. This is a controversial feature that will probably need to see some changes before it come out as an acceptable way to pay tribute to those who are no longer with us.

There is no reason for there to be no memorial for the people who are no longer able to post in the network, but there should be some logical regulations for this to be as pleasant and respectful as possible.

Sharon Callix

Award Winning Social Media Expert,UK

Twitter: SC707Tweets