From Social Media to Grave

In the last decade, social media has gone from being uncommon to being very popular. Almost everyone has access to some kind of social media account. Worrying about what might happen to your social media accounts if you die is not something we do.

When a loved one dies, their social media account becomes a focus for friends and family. The current trend sees people leaving messages and tributes. The owner of the account will never see these posts. So, what does happens to social media accounts when the user is no longer around?

Social Media from a Legal Standpoint

From a legal point of view, when an account owner dies, there are no laws in place. Many accounts have fallen by the wayside and are no longer used. Hundreds of social media accounts get abandoned every year. This includes many by people who are still very much alive and kicking. Users get bored of using them or forget to update them. For social media providers policing the closing of all accounts would be impossible. Accounts are no longer used, but no one checks up on them. They remain hanging around but unused in cyberspace.

What Could You Do?

Not all social media platforms are as prepared to deal with passing as others. Facebook is the most organised social media platform. On Facebook, in your settings, you can give your account as a legacy to a friend or family member. Or, you can choose to deactivate your profile. Twitter will deactivate the account on receipt of a death certificate. Legacy accounts are not possible. Instagram does not allow you to nominate anyone else to take care of your account. But they wouldn’t know if you had given passwords to friends and family before your death. If Instagram receives evidence of death, they will freeze the account. This prevents anyone commenting on, tagging or reposting in any way. The account remains immortalised.

Posting from Beyond

Trends and wishes from the general public change over time. In response, we have seen the launch of services like DeadSocial. This will create an automatic posting on certain dates. Whether this is too weird for most people, we can only wait and see. There are other services that offer to pass on messages that you have pre-recorded on video. They are setup on certain dates over the next say 20 years, or so. This is a chargeable service. Whether friends, family and loved ones would actually want this is unknown as the service is too new. Currently, this is a concept under development although it is an available service.

On a personal level, seeing friends on my list who are no longer with us is strange. It can be comforting to some to see birthday reminders. Some people like to leave a birthday greeting.

What’s Your Opinion?

What is your view on social media accounts after the owner has passed? Do you believe that they should be closed immediately? Is leaving them available offering comfort and creating a lasting memorial? Let us know what you think.