Facebook Changes Their Posthumous Policy: You Can Now Choose Your Own Legacy Contact

Today, Feb. 12th, Facebook announced a new service: the possibility of Adding a Legacy Contact. 

April 30th 2015 update: This is now active in Canada as well as in the USA. May 12th 2015 update: featured in Australia, New-Zealand and Japan. July 27th update: available now in the UK too, and thanks Michael Diamond. August update: available now also in Finland and Denmark. Thanks Stine Gotved and Anna Haverinen for letting me know. September update: Now available in Israel too. 

Here are some quotes and images form their official press release: 

"Today we're introducing a new feature that lets people choose a legacy contact—a family member or friend who can manage their account when they pass away. Once someone lets us know that a person has passed away, we will memorialize the account and the legacy contact will be able to:

• Write a post to display at the top of the memorialized Timeline (for example, to announce a memorial service or share a special message)
• Respond to new friend requests from family members and friends who were not yet connected on Facebook
• Update the profile picture and cover photo

If someone chooses, they may give their legacy contact permission to download an archive of the photos, posts and profile information they shared on Facebook. Other settings will remain the same as before the account was memorialized. The legacy contact will not be able to log in as the person who passed away or see that person’s private messages.

Alternatively, people can let us know if they'd prefer to have their Facebook account permanently deleted after death.
Until now, when someone passed away, we offered a basic memorialized account which was viewable, but could not be managed by anyone. By talking to people who have experienced loss, we realized there is more we can do to support those who are grieving and those who want a say in what happens to their account after death. 

Here's how to choose a legacy contact:
Open your settings. Choose Security and then Legacy Contact at the bottom of the page. 

After choosing your legacy contact, you’ll have the option to send a message to that person.

You may give your legacy contact permission to download an archive of the posts, photos and profile info you've shared on Facebook.

We’ve also redesigned memorialized profiles to pay tribute to the deceased by adding “Remembering” above their name and making it possible for their legacy contact to pin a post to the top of their Timeline. 

We're introducing legacy contact in the US first and look forward to expanding to more countries. Setting up a legacy contact is completely optional.  

Our team at Facebook is grateful and humbled to be working on these improvements. We hope this work will help people experience loss with a greater sense of possibility, comfort and support". 

A memoralized profile with

the word "Remembering" added to the name and 

a post created and pinned by the Legacy Contact. 

My first reaction is - Yay! Wow. A definite improvement to the existing (non-existing) Facebook policy in this regard. 

Facebook is the second company to offer an in-house solution: Google was the first, in April 2013, with her 'Inactive Account Manager'. You can read more about it in my posts here and here. 
Many websites offer options to manage your digital legacy - a list can be found in this post of mine here.
(Actually it's the second-and-a-half company if we were to count Yahoo! Japan's service as well). 

I still had a few questions after reading this press release, which I directed at Jodi Seth, a Facebook Spokesperson (Manager of Policy Communications, to be precise): 

1. Q: What about pages the deceased was an Admin to? Will the Legacy Contact have access to those as well, even just to appoint another Admin?
   I hate seeing valuable content - of both sentimental and financial value - lost over an account being memorialized, when another Admin hasn't been appointed before or after the death of the sole admin of a page.
   A: No, the legacy contact only applies to personal profiles at this time, but it is something we will certainly think about as this evolves.
2. Q: Has anything changed regarding what happens to an account of a person who dies without nominating a Legacy Contact? 
   A: Our current memorialization policies applies: someone can request the page be memorialized (viewable, but not managed by anyone), and the family may still request the account be deleted.
3. Q: Will users be prompted to sign up for this service? 
   A: They will not. We have posted information in our newsroom and hope that and the media coverage will encourage people to sign up as they see fit.
4. Q: I'm uncertain about tagging: can someone be tagged in a picture or a post once their account has been memorialized? If so, then: can the Legacy Contact control those tags? For instance, if a deceased person was tagged in an ad or something else which is unsuitable or inappropriate, can the Legacy Contact untag the deceased? (I didn't see any tagging reference here). 
   A: Memorialized accounts can be tagged, and whether or not the tag shows up to friends depends on the settings they had during their life. Legacy contacts cannot currently untag, but they can reach out to the person who tagged the deceased person and ask that they remove the tag. And anything that goes against our Community Standards can be reported and we would review and delete as appropriate. 
5. Q: Will the Legacy Contact have permission to delete posts from the timeline after the account has been memorialized? For instance, if hurtful, un-kind posts were posted, could the Legacy Contact remove it?  
   A: No, we have a reporting process, which would allow people to report anything they feel violates our terms of service and Facebook would review and delete those things.
6. Q: It states that the Legacy Contact can "Respond to new friend requests from family members and friends who were not yet connected on Facebook": how about a "Follow" button, if the deceased hadn't set one himself/herself while he/she were still alive? Could the Legacy Contact add a "Follow" button, for people who would not wish the befriend the deceased but would like to follow, for example?
   A: No, a legacy contact could not add a follow button. 
7. Q: Will the Legacy Contact be able to write a post on the timeline of the deceased and pin it there even if the "Who can post on your timeline?" settings was set to "only me" at the time of the death? If the timeline was set to "only me", will the Legacy Contact be able to change that to "friends", in order to allow the friends and family members of the deceased to express their grief there?
   A: A legacy contact could not change the settings  that the account holder had in life - so if the person did not allow anyone to post on his or her timeline in life then the Legacy Contact could not change that after death.
8. Q: Could the Legacy Contact position be revoked or transferred? For instance, if a couple breaks up, could they revoke the position they have previously appointed to their former spouse, and/or transfer the position to their new spouse?
   A: Yes, a person may change their legacy contact as often as they like before death.
9. Q: Has the policy changed regarding who can notify Facebook about a death of a user and/or how that notification is made? 
   I find the current policy, of anyone being able to report anyone, and that all that is required is a link to an obituary, troubling. 
   This is what a form to 'Report A Deceased User' used to look like and this is what a 'Memorialization Request' looks like now. Does it only LOOK different, or is there a change of policy too behind the change in appearances?
   A: Anyone can request memorialization, but it is verified by our community operations team who thoroughly reviews each request – we ask for an obituary or news article, but we also use other social cues to verify that the request is legitimate. We have very low rates of false memorializations. Deleting an entire account after memorialization can only be requested by immediate family and that requires a death certificate. Memorialization requests are handled the same way.

October 2015 update: I wrote a separate post, explaining why I don't think this is a good and comprehensive enough solution, although it is an important step in the right direction. 

Jed Brubaker is a PhD candidate in the department of Informatics at UC Irvine. Facebook involved him in this project as an academic collaborator, to share findings from his six years of researching death and grief on social media, and to provide feedback and guidance during the design and development of Legacy Contacts. 

If you want to take this opportunity and become more acquainted with Jed's work, here are a few useful links: 

• Website

• Projects:

• Death and the Social Network
• Stewardship of Online Identities

• Publications: 
• “We will never forget you [online]” : An empirical investigation of post-mortem MySpace comments. Proc. CSCW 2011. Hangzhou, China. March 19–23, 2011. [pdf]
• Grief-Stricken in a Crowd: The language of bereavement and distress in social media. Proc. ICWSM-12. Dublin, Ireland. June 4-8, 2012. [pdf] 
• Beyond the Grave: Facebook as a site for the expansion of death and mourning. The Information Society, 29, 3. [pdf]
• Death, Memorialization, and Social Media: A Platform Perspective for Personal Archives. Archivaria, 77, 1-23. [link]
• Stewarding a Legacy: Responsibilities and Relationships in the Management of Post-mortem Data. Proc. CHI 2014. Toronto, Canada. April 26 – May 1, 2014. [pdf]

Google's new solution: Inactive Account Manager

Google posted an announcement on their blog on April 11th, 2013 that caused a stir, about a new service they are launching: Inactive Account Manager. More information is available here, on Google's general support, under "User Accounts".

The service allows users to pre-set for each of their Google accounts (Blogger, Google+, Picasa, YouTube) what they would like to have happen with these accounts in case something happens to them: would they like for the account to be deleted, should a family member or close friend be given access to the account and if so who, and what are the contact details for the people (up to ten) who may be allowed access.

Activating the service doesn't necessarily have to result from something as terminal as death, but rather even through something temporary like memory loss, accident, disease, disability, injury or anything else that may cause us to lose track of our account password, or to become unable to operate it.

These kinds of services have been widely available in the past - but not through the providers themselves, being offered instead through external companies that specialize in digital estate management or digital heritage. A partial list of these can be found in this post. Google is the first online service provider to be offering these services itself.

There's a difference between allowing users to choose and decide for themselves what they plan to do with their digital or virtual assets after they die - a service that until now we've only seen from specialist asset management companies - and the provider's policy determining what happens to users' digital or virtual assets after they die, without their choosing or deciding on it - which is the policy that we've seen up till now (you can find many example in this post. Google is the first trailblazer in this regard.

Google writes about their service: 

What should happen to your photos, emails and documents when you stop using your account? Google puts you in control.

You might want your data to be shared with a trusted friend or family member, or, you might want your account to be deleted entirely. There are many situations that might prevent you from accessing or using your Google account. Whatever the reason, we give you the option of deciding what happens to your data. 

Using Inactive Account Manager, you can decide if and when your account is treated as inactive, what happens with your data and who is notified.

Google allows users to define for each account what is the time period allowed until this account is defined as inactive: three, six, nine, 12, 15 or 18 months. The timer starts from the last time you logged into the account:

You set a timeout period, after which your account can be treated as inactive. The timeout period starts with your last sign-in to your Google account.

And on the next screen:

Google explains that it measures activity on several parameters: account logins (typing in your username and password), using the Gmail app on your mobile and using location tags (check-ins) on Android.

After the timeout period you've set-up for defining the account as inactive is nearly over, you'll receive a warning by SMS and an email sent to the alterative email address (the same address used to restore your forgotten Google account password), informing you that the account will soon be tagged as inactive, and that your pre-set instructions will take effect. The warning allows you to enter your account and stop the activation in case this is not the "real thing".

Inactive Account Manager will alert you via text message and optionally email before the timeout period ends.

And on the next screen:

If you chose for the account to be deleted, it will be erased completely, including anything you've publicly posted using this account.

If you wish, instruct Google to delete your account on your behalf.

And on the next screen:

Google allows you to define contacts for one of two purposes: to let them know the account has become inactive, or to allow them access to its content. If you chose to allow a person or several people access to your account's content, you'll need to provide Google with both their email address and phone number, so that there's no fear of the information falling into the wrong hands (if a friend or family member's account is hacked, for example).

Add trusted contacts who should be made aware that you are no longer using your account. You can also share data with them if you like.

And on the next screen:

While defining your trusted contacts as such they will not receive a notification message - it's up to the user whether or not to let them know about their new role. Google will only make contact with them whenever the inactive account instructions take effect.

If you chose only to inform them, the email message will look like this:

John Doe (john.doe@gmail.com) instructed Google to send you this mail automatically after John stopped using his account.
Sincerely,The Google Accounts Team

If you chose to provide them with access to your account, the email from Google will look like this:

John Doe (john.doe@gmail.com) instructed Google to send you this mail automatically after John stopped using his account.

John Doe has given you access to the following account data:
+1s 

Blogger

Drive 

Latitude 

Mail 

Picasa

Web Albums 

YouTube 

Download John's data here

Sincerely,The Google Accounts Team

Note that unlike the solutions from digital estate or digital heritage management companies, Google will not give your chosen contacts your account password - or the ability to use it - just the option of downloading the information.

When I was in London in October 2012 at the Digital Death Day unconference, I gave the discussion I initiated the title: What can be done that hasn't yet? And what I suggested was exactly this: transfer the handling of these issues from external companies to the providers themselves.

The solution I suggested was that in the same way that signing up for an online service requires checking a box that confirms that we've read the terms of service, and without which you cannot join, that immediately after that you would have a second mandatory box where you would need to specify what you'd like to happen to this account after you die. And just as we sometimes have to confirm our password or set a new one, that we would periodically need to confirm that decision. The post detailing my unconference experience can be found here.

I'm glad to see Google taking a huge step in this direction and offering an "in house" solution - but the fact that it's optional rather than mandatory makes it good but not very good.


I thank many people who sent me the link to Google's new policy when it was published, and especially Paul Solomon, Head of Communications & Public Affairs in Google (Israel & Greece) , that kindly sent me the link immediately after it was first posted.


Thank you Uri Gonda for translating this post. 

I wrote a separate post with my thoughts regarding this tool. 

After death: caution and attention

Since, hopefully, you do not wish to cause unnecessary pain to the people the deceased was in online contact with, make sure you know how the online service you are about to go into works - before you go into it. If you're not sure how this service or website works, ask for assistance from someone who does. 

For instance, if you go into an e-mail account of someone who is no longer alive, and this e-mail service also has a chat or a messenger service, such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, the first thing you need to do is go offline. Otherwise, you might cause their friends heartache - or a heart attack - by seeing them seemingly online and available for chat. 

Same word of caution about Facebook: if you choose to go into the profile of the deceased, the first thing you should do is make sure your chat status is offline.  

If you start using a computer previously owned by the deceased, first thing to do is log out of every single web site they used to be active in, prior to your own use of the computer. If you don't, in a momentary lack of attention, you might enter a forum you're a member of, wishing to post a note under your own username, only to find out a minute too late that by mistake, you published under their username instead of yours - and caused that heartache - or heart attack - after all. 

Tupac performs "live" onstage - after his death

In the 2012 Coachella Festival, the audience got to "see" Tupac, killed in 1996, "perform" live on stage, solo and in a duet with Snoop Dogg, who is still alive. 

The "live performance" was made possible thanks to an impressive 3D hologram. Their choice - not to let his image walk off stage like the rest of the performers, thus maintaining the illusion that he's still alive for a while longer, but to have his image disintegrate on stage in front of the audience - is a choice I find rattling. 

You can read more about it here, where they chose to see this as nothing less than a resurrection. 

Thank you Matan Melamed for bringing this to my attention.