Have you ever thought about what happens to your accounts on social sites once you pass away?
The process for addressing this matter does vary a bit from site to site. This post will cover only the sites I tutor on: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Other sites will have their own procedures.
Facebook has two services, memorialization and legacy contact, the latter being brand new. Karissa Bell has written a very helpful piece on the new one that you can read at http://mashable.com/2015/02/12/facebook-legacy-contact/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-socmed-link
Facebook’s own help section explains clearly how it works: https://www.facebook.com/help/1568013990080948
Among the available options:
- You may choose to allow your legacy contact to download a copy of what you have shared on Facebook.
- You can direct to have your account closed after you pass away.
- Your account can be memorialized after you pass away https://www.facebook.com/help/103897939701143
The difference between these two services is that the memorializing is done by a loved one after you pass away, and the creation of a legacy contact is an action that you take yourself.
Once you have passed, your legacy contact can:
- Provide information about your memorial service
- Respond to new Friend requests that come to your account
- Update your profile photo and cover photo
However, your legacy contact can’t:
- Log into your account
- Remove any of your friends
- Read the Facebook messages between you and your friends
- Remove or edit past posts
NOTE: There is nothing analogous on LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Twitter to the legacy contact or the memorialization options offered by Facebook. So for the accounts on those social sites, there is nothing you need to decide or do in advance of your death. However, you might want to share with a loved one what steps to take in order to deactivate any accounts you may have on these sites once you are no longer here to use them.
Should you need to close the account of someone who has passed away, the instructions are easily accessible in LinkedIn’s help section https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2842/kw/deceased+person
The person closing out the account needs to complete an electronic form providing the name of the deceased, the email address with which they opened their account, the URL to their account, a link to their obituary information, and related information.
Should you need to close the account of someone who has passed away, the instructions are easily accessible in Pinterest’s help section https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/deactivate-or-reactivate-account#Web
Note that one of the options when you click on this link is called “how to deactivate a deceased person’s account”. Similar to the process required by LinkedIn, the person closing out the account needs to email specific requested information about the deceased including their name, the URL to their account, documentation of their passing, their relationship to them, etc., to Pinterest in order to close out the account.
Here is a link to what someone needs to do to deactivate the Twitter account of someone who has died: https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2842/kw/deceased+person
The link includes the list of information the person closing out the account needs to send to Twitter via the US mail – and the physical address is provided as well.
How About You?
Have you provided information about your social sites to someone you would trust to handle the deactivation of your accounts after your death? Have you requested this information from those who might choose you such as parents, siblings, etc.?
This is the type of information that should be written down or printed out and stored with other important information such as wills. As difficult as it is to contemplate these kinds of things, you are doing a kindness to your loved ones by providing them the information they will need to handle this matter easily when the time comes.
About Joyce
Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more effective using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. She works with business owners, nonprofit organizations, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.
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