Halloween is right around the corner. Thoughts of ghosts and ghouls gallivanting down the neutral grounds have got me thinking: What happens after our flesh and bone fingers turn to ethereal ectoplasm preventing us from logging on to Facebook?
A morbid thought, I’ll admit, but still a practical one. So, really, what happens to our Facebook profiles after we die?
Your surviving family members can submit a Deceased Users request to Facebook to delete your account. It only requires a small amount of information. Oh, and a death certificate that must be uploaded to Facebook. After this, the account is completely removed. Easy, right?
If you have a caring, loving family that wants to keep your memory alive, then they can submit a Memorialization Request to Facebook. This locks the account and prevents it from being suggested to anyone (just imagine getting a friend suggestion for a deceased acquaintance *full body shiver*). But do you want your family to do this? Think about your last post to Facebook. Do you want a picture of your lunch that day to be immortalized as your final legacy?
So what can you do to preserve your legacy and update your status from beyond the grave? Well, there’s an app for that. Just install the Facebook app If I Die and leave a message. After your death is reported, the app will publish a video or text message to your profile – effectively becoming your last “is doing this” type of status update ever.
Not a fan of that idea? Well then, Mashable has put together a handy list (surprise, surprise) of 7 Resources for Handling Digital Life After Death. Some allow you to create a “social media trustee” of sorts that becomes responsible for handling all your social media accounts after your untimely (or timely, I suppose) death. Others allow you to schedule posts and tweets up to 50 years in advance. Which is totally not creepy, right?
My favorite is Deathswitch, simply because it’s comically morbid and the website is a throwback to a simpler time on the Web. The service periodically prompts you for a password to ensure that you’re still alive. If no response is received, the service assumes you’ve punched out and sends a message to people named by you. It’s like the 21st century equivalent of the video you see at the reading of a will. The emails can contain all information that you feel is relevant to their intended recipients.
Ultimately, the choice is yours regarding life after death in the digital age. But just as it has always been, if you don’t decide for yourself now, your family or friends will decide for you later. Just some food for thought while you’re snacking on the kids’ candy this Halloween. Mwahahahaha!
P.S. In case you’re wondering, I will be using Deathswitch, but in every email I will also include a list of clues which lead to my vast fortune that has been hidden at various places around the globe.