What happens to your Facebook account when you die
Nowadays, we seem to spend more and more time online, which has naturally left some people wondering exactly what happens to your social media accounts - specifically Facebook - when you die.
It's a bit morbid, let's be honest, but I have to admit it's definitely been a thought that's crossed my mind from time to time.
And while some people may find it comforting that your digital footprint long outlives you, others find it just plain creepy.
So, if you want to plan for your passing, and what happens to your Facebook account features on things you’d care about in that sad eventuality, here are a few things you can do.
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First off, you can have the whole thing deleted upon your death, removing all trace of you on Facebook.
On a page dedicated to this information, Facebook states: “You can choose to have your account permanently deleted should you pass away.
“This means that when someone lets us know that you've passed away, all of your messages, photos, posts, comments, reactions and info will be immediately and permanently removed from Facebook.
“Your main profile and any additional Facebook profiles will also be deleted.”
But, if you do want to keep a reminder of yourself around after you die, you can turn your page into a ‘memorialised profile’.
Basically, it’ll become a page dedicated to your memory, looked after by someone that you have to nominate as your ‘legacy contact’.
Facebook states: “Memorialised profiles are a place for friends and family to gather and share memories after a person has passed away.”
It'll add the word ‘remembering’ to your profile, friends will be able to share their own memories – privacy settings permitting – and content shared on that page will be visible to that audience.
No-one can log into the page, and the memory profile won’t appear in any ‘people you may know’ things, which is reassuring.
If the person has died with no legacy contact – you can find more about this in the Facebook settings, by the way – then their memorial page won’t be able to be changed.
Adding some additional advice for friends and family of loved ones, Facebook write: “If you'd like to create another place for people on Facebook to share memories of your loved one, we suggest creating a group.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Sonya Dhillon explained how the memorial profile created for her young cousin helped her when he tragically died.
She said: “There are settings involved where you can appoint someone when you pass away who can make it a memorial or deactivate it.
“When my cousin passed away there wasn’t that option, he had to give his dad his password so he could get it set up.
“We made him a memorial, we like to have it there so we can talk to him and wish him a heavenly birthday.
“For me it’s nice to know that your socials will be looked after. Nowadays if someone dies all people do is go there to reminisce.”
Similar settings for memorialised pages and page deletion exist on X - formerly Twitter - and Instagram, by the way.
All the details will be in the settings of those individual platforms.
Topics: Facebook, Social Media