Facebook after lifeCREATING A FACEBOOK MEMORIALIf your loved one passes, Facebook accepts requests from “verified immediate family members” to either remove a profile or turn it into a digital memorial. You first must complete a special form at www.facebook.com/help/contact/228813257197480To verify a connection to the deceased person, the request must be accompanied by documentation such as the deceased person’s birth/death certificate or proof of your rights as the executor of their estate. These documents can be submitted as a scanned image or a portable document file (PDF).ONCE MEMORIALIZEDOnce an account memorialization request is approved by Facebook, the following limitations will be in effect:• Facebook will not let anyone log into the account.• The account will only appear in searches to users who were verified friends of the deceased prior to memorialization.• Advertisements will no longer appear on the profile.• The user who is memorialized will no longer appear in suggestion lists or event reminders.• Memorialized accounts cannot be modified, including adding or removing friends, modifying photos (including the cover photo) or deleting previous posts.• Privacy settings for the account may be adjusted to allow friends to continue to post content such as their memories, to the deceased’s news feed.• Contact information such as phone numbers, addresses and other private sensitive content will be removed from the account.• The account can still receive private messages.• Content shared by the deceased person will still be viewable by the audience it was shared with• Memorialized accounts will not appear publicly, such as in automatic Facebook suggestions such as “People You May Know” or birthday reminders
Last December, a little over a month after his 81st birthday, James Graham died in a Nashville hospital after a long struggle with lymphoma. But when his granddaughter Hayley Graham logs onto Facebook, it’s like he’s still around.
“Every time I tag a picture or try to tag someone in a status whose name starts with a ‘J’, his name pops up, and I immediately have this moment when it’s confusing to me,” the 27-year-old Chattanoogan says. “The other day, I saw his picture pop up, and I had a moment like, ‘I really should send him a message.'”
Her grandfather’s account is one of about 30 million on Facebook that belong to deceased users, according to estimates by social media specialist Walter Thompson in a 2012 article on ReadWrite.com. In many cases, these profiles are treated as memorials by the living, who peruse their loved ones’ photos and continue to post messages and other content to their newsfeed.
In a sense, the world’s most populous social network — 1.25 billion users as of October — has also become its largest cemetery, with 75 times as many interments as Arlington National Cemetery, which contains 400,000 remains. Family members say the persistence of these profiles can be both a boon and a burden, allowing them to celebrate their loved ones’ lives while also causing the occasional pang of heartache when they appear unexpectedly.