Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
While a will can help you decide what happens to your possessions and who takes care of your children when you kick the bucket, there’s never been a way to appoint a legal guardian for your social media accounts – until now.
Yes, if you’ve ever found yourself losing sleep over what will happen to the pictures you posted of your beloved kids and pets on Facebook, or those links that describe how the members of that other political party are Satan incarnate, the social network’s got you covered.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook rolled out a new feature in the US on Thursday that allows members of the social media website to designate an individual who will be able to manage parts of their accounts (or even delete it entirely) after you’ve passed on.
That person is known as the “legacy contact,” and it replaces Facebook’s previous policy of automatically freezing the accounts of members after learning of their deaths. That policy drew criticism from heirs who wanted the ability to edit the account to reflect the individual’s final status update. The person will essentially serve as the executor of their digital will.
Following in Google’s footsteps
As the WSJ points out, it might sound somewhat morbid to make plans for what will happen to your social media account after you leave this mortal coil, but it also can bring “clarity to an issue that’s both legally and emotionally challenging.” Facebook follows in the footsteps of Google, who in 2013 became the first major online firm to allow users to appoint a digital heir to oversee their YouTube, Gmail and Google Drive accounts after they had expired.
“Facebook and other Internet services walk a difficult tightrope between respecting the privacy of the deceased and the demands of grieving friends and family,” the newspaper said. While it might seem pointless to maintain a social media account after death, the legacy contact program allows friends, family or loved ones to turn the page into a sort of online memorial, letting them to change the profile picture or even accept new friend requests on behalf of the late owner.
“If they’re granted prior permission, legacy contacts can also download an archive of posts and photos from the deceased, but not the contents of his or her private messages,” the WSJ noted, adding that the program is 100-percent optional. If you choose not to participate, and Facebook learns that you have passed on, it will simply freeze your account like it always has.
Launching points
While it launches in the US first, Engadget said that the social network plans to launch it in other parts of the world in the near future. The website added that those concerned about their privacy can rest easy knowing that the legacy contact will not be able to view private messages, and that the company has promised to honor the wishes of users who do not activate the feature, but who appoint someone to perform similar duties in an regular, offline legal will.
TechCrunch said that the online memorials will be marked with the label “Remembering” above the user’s name, so that no one mistakenly believes that he or she is still alive. If you want to select a legacy contact, you can do so by clicking on Settings, then Security, the Legacy Contact, and personalize a pre-generates message to the individual you’ve selected notifying them of their new status as your social media executor. You can also choose whether or not that individual is permitted to download a file with all of you shared status updates, photos and other content.
—–
Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.
Comments