April 2015 | Issue 6.2 | OutBoise.com
The page could be “frozen” as a second option. In this case the page becomes a memorial
page that cannot be modified further. It removes
all contact information and the ability to find the
page by search. It further locks it permanently so
no one may ever log into it again or delete comments of other people on the friends list of the
deceased. The Friends list may not be added to
or reduced. If you have ever had an epic rant
appear on your comments section, I think you can
well imagine what could go wrong if someone
decides to troll our loved ones with no ability to
moderate.
Another option is for the page to be given to a
family member to manage. This leaves open the
potential for our private conversations to be read
by someone we might specifically hope is never
able to do so. Fortunately this option was rarely
used, as it requires court involvement.
The last of the most common methods was for
no one to notify Facebook and leave the page as
it was before. This might seem initially like an attractive idea, however it would then allow a parent or sibling or grandparent to petition Facebook
for any of the above options. Once any option
was put into effect, the chances of changing it
are rather slim. This makes the question of how our
Facebook page is dealt with extremely important
if you use the social media site often.
The new feature is a rather simple concept
called a Legacy Contact. It allows us to designate
the person who will control our page after our
death. Potentially it could even affect inheritance
and other court actions based on how it shows
what the deceased wanted. There is no substitute
for a proper legal Will, so if it is a concern, please
make sure you have a lawyer involved.
There are a few limitations. The first, is the bar for
proving “death” is still high. A legal Obituary in a
newspaper or a Death Certificate is required before the page is handed to your Legacy Contact.
These are very hard to create without a legally
verified death, so it keeps down the number of
false claims used to get into someone’s profile.
Once the feature is initially activated, you
choose someone on your friends list(and only your
friends list). You may automatically send them a
NEWS | OutBoise Magazine | 31
message notifying them of this if you wish. You
may also set the system to send the message
upon proof of your death. There are pros and
cons to each option, but most importantly, it is
entirely your choice.
One thing about planning for our death that
has always been awkward is answering the questions and worries of our loved ones. The conversation itself can stress out everyone involved. To
reduce this, Legacy Contacts allow you to delay
the notification feature by sending out the request
after the owner is deceased. You may send it out
before then so your chosen designee knows what
is coming, but it is nice to have more than a single
option for the notification message.
So you have passed on, what now? The designee is given whatever your last message to them
was, and the ability to manage your profile in most
ways, excluding your personal messages. As an
important privacy feature, they specifically cannot read your personal messages or send any in
your name. However, your chosen person is able
to delete hurtful posts to your wall and add or
remove contacts. They can also change your profile picture to something more appropriate.
Being able to edit the profile’s friends list is extremely helpful. Our chosen designee then has
the power to be a moderator while ensuring our
last wishes are carried out. Problem people on our
“friends” list can then be removed so memorial
events are no longer in as much danger of being
ruined. Also, we all know how sometimes Facebook just drops friends for no reason. This gives our
designee the ability to correct those occasional
mistakes.
One particularly nice feature is to give the designee the ability to compress and download your
entire profile into one data package. This includes
things like images the owner posted, as well as
any they are tagged in. Anything that helps make
memorial CD’s for our friends less time consuming
in a moment of mourning is a positive step.
Being able to choose who controls our legacy
on Facebook is a relatively small thing. It isn’t a
cure for all the problems we have to deal with, but
it is a step in the right direction.