Social media is a wonderful thing, right? You have the ability to share life with tens, hundreds, and thousands of people. But it leaves an interesting question, what happens when a person passes away?
I had just recently lost a cousin and unfortunately with 2,000 miles between me and the funeral home, I was not able to be present. But I was able to share my condolences via Facebook with his family and friends. Which begs the question, do you shut down that account or not?
- 43% of people say they would like their social media profiles closed down, 20% want them left up but comments closed, and 16% want everything left on.
- Some digital platforms have policies that force your hand. Facebook wants to turn your account into a memorial, Dropbox states inactive accounts will simply be deleted, Twitter can close accounts on request, and YouTube allows access with verification of death.
- Over 30 million accounts on Facebook belong to deceased users. Do you find yourself planning to avoid being in that number?
What is your after life expectations with your social media accounts?
[via RHC Funerals]
Eric Dye says
It’ll be interesting to see this play out with web services that sustain for multiple decades. Everything is still so young, the overall impact is far from being realized.
Jeremy Smith says
Agreed