Social Media News

Tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes; for it is tomorrow that cannot be not guaranteed to any individual. Silenced far too often, the thought of death is often labeled as morbid and not spoken about; however death is our reality, from the moment we draw our first breath at birth we begin our journey — one that has a single outcome, our shallow demise. Within this twenty-first century of modernized life online, the Internet has the responsibility of bringing together an interconnected global populace of users –- users that rely on the current new-age technology for creating established social networks, from abroad, with a diverse subculture of people that without the Internet never would have came together. Quickly growing, at a rate once as high, in early 2009, as that of 300%; several hundred social media sites exist, with many more being beta tested each day while blue prints are laid out for others –- adding to the dialog, thousands of sites allow for two parties to get together; such as forums, messenger platforms, chat rooms, Usenet, newsgroups, message boards, electronic mail portals, and many websites of interest. However, the question that looms in the darkness, of even those who do not speak regarding this tragic event, is “what happens to our social media once we die?” The answer, surprising…

Revolutionized social media sites have equipped themselves for the passing of their loyal users; by putting in place policies for death, in respect to the user and to the grieving family. However, this policy comes not without battles; in regards to content ownership after death. After putting in place a respectful policy on the subject, one social site seen a firestorm of anger from a single family member pushing to get his siblings content removed; fighting the newly erected policy that stated content would forever stand in the event of death and stands to be memorialized in respect of the loyal user. The content was later removed at the wish of the estate holder, after a malevolent post was written from him regarding his loved ones content. A second site was hit with a lawsuit in regards to not complying with to turn over electronic mail, to the family of a user who lost his life in Iraq serving our beloved country.

• → Facebook: May have the most respectful policy of all social media sites at current; once a user passes on the page becomes a memorial to that user –- enforced are restrictions that will stop members from befriending this user, while the page and all its contents are viewable by existing friends and/or family members. The objective of such exceptional idea, Facebook claimed, “is to allow those who knew the deceased to continue honoring him/her with wall posts all while respecting the privacy rights of the decreased user.” To put this memorial status in place, for a friend or loved one; first contact Facebook and provide them with requested documented material.

• → G-mail: Allows the next of kin or the executor of the deceased estate to apply for access to the users electronic mail account, respecting the rights of the passed on and within legalities; Gmail asks for three critical pieces of information including the formal identity of the requester, a death certificate, and at least one e-mail between them and the deceased –- occurring at any time prior to death.  If the deceased is underage, the individual making a request would be subjected to providing a birth certificate also — for legal creditability to be established. Gmail, states that the users account will not be removed by them; however the family can choose to after accessing such account.

• → Myspace: To date has no policy put in effect, when a uses passes away. Myspace released a formal statement, “Given the sensitive nature of th decreased members profiles, Myspace handles each incident on a case-by-case basis when notified; we will work with the families and their wishes.” This site states it will not allow anyone to take over, or “assume control” of the site; yet it wouldn’t rule out giving family members access to the users private data. The site does not delete inactive profiles; however with proper documentation will respect the family and remove the profile at the request of removal.

• → Hotmail: Has a policy that within 270 days, if the email address is not active the mailing account will be subjected to being deleted — after that 270 days the account is declared abandoned and inactive, regardless. If a user dies, next of kin will be able to access that account with proof of identification and a death certificate; noting that if they wish to keep the site open thy must log in once every 270 days. A spokesperson for Hotmail stated, “Microsoft’s privacy policy allows the next of kin to gain account access, with proper documentation; proving their identity and also their relationship to the victim. Hotmail does not have options to specify, in advance, that they [users] do not want the contents of their email addressed by the next of kin.”

• →Yahoo!: By far Yahoo reserves the strictest policy in regards to death of a user. Yahoo! will only allow that the next of kin contact them — yielding one result, the termination of the account. Next of kin, even with proper identification and death records, cannot gain account access — stating that if a decreased user wants their account information to be carried forward, account information should be created in a will. This disrespectful statement has came under fire, many times with many lawsuits being opened and won; many of these lawsuits were in relation to underage users who died tragically and without warning without a will in place. Yahoo! states “The commitment that Yahoo! makes to every user, who signs up for their service, is to treat that account prior to and after death as that of a private account. All material will be kept as confidential.”

Living in a fast paced informational age, connected to our electronic devices that yield forth connectivity to the World Wide Web; our real world is by far the only life we have –- in many case, more detailed; our life online should be held with the same importance. It is highly recommended and at high importance, to save grieving loved ones stressful headaches; to create a legalized or written post mortem plan or legal agreement — regarding membership to sites/social media. For those who do not want the cost of lawyers — easily this can be done in a spreadsheet, with a secondary written page attached to include your pass code for each account, in order with the spreadsheet numbers instead of account names; never keep your account and password in a single documented due to malice that may happen on the computer. A few online companies such as that of Legacy Locker, allows for wishes to be conveyed to a beneficiary; pertaining to digital assets. Simply with this program information within will be kept safe, by the beneficiary listed; similar to a will or estate holder. Another electronic option that one may want to look into, My Wonderful Life; plan your funeral your way such as which songs to play at the service and burial, what should be placed on the headstone, if wishes are for cremation instead of a burial and where ashes should be spread, and more that can be easily printed out or emailed to family and friends — this account retains social media aspects in which users can easily create, modify, and share their unique funeral wishes. Prepare for tomorrow, as tomorrow is not guaranteed – nor is an hour from now. 

Recommendation: My Wonderful Life: New-Age Wishes for Post Mortem Honors

(Copyright © Social-Media-News 2009)