Facebook announce memorial profiles for deceased members
By Sam Alderwick, 27 October 2009 - 22:55 44 comments
Friends and families of deceased users on Facebook will soon be given the option to turn their profiles into memorials. The new feature will be introduced as a result of several complaints regarding status updates and suggestions about deceased users, according to The Guardian.
Information that may be sensitive to relatives or friends of the deceased user, as well as status updates and contacts will be removed by Facebook after the person is confirmed to be dead (either through news articles, obituaries or other proof of death). The newly introduced "Suggestions" feature will no longer remind people to help their dead friend or relative either.
"We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it's important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized," said Max Kelly, the head of security at Facebook.
In addition, the privacy settings of the user's profile are changed so that only confirmed Facebook friends can view the "memorialised" profile, or find it in search results. They can also post remembrance comments on the deceased person's wall.
"When someone leaves us, they don't leave our memories or our social network. To reflect that reality, we created the idea of "memorialized" profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who've passed," Max said.
Sazz181
Comments (44)
Co_Co - 27 October 2009 - 23:01
too weirdd
kazuyette - 27 October 2009 - 23:02
At first I was like :" OMG is it April 1st already ? "
And then I was like : " Wow ... FB is going too far. "
+Mike Chipshop - 28 October 2009 - 10:00
I disagree, read my post below for why.
ricknl - 27 October 2009 - 23:07
suggestions from deceased users ???
Yeah, Facebook would give you automatic suggestions such as "Mark Williams hasn't been active recently, write on his wall!"
Or something along those lines.
Brandon - 27 October 2009 - 23:08
Ummmm.. what? Dead talking?
Glendi - 27 October 2009 - 23:10
Never used Facebook, eh? You get reminded to add a deceased user as a friend because you got mutual friends with him... and that's not good.
kferd - 27 October 2009 - 23:08
Honestly, as weird as this may seem its not too bad of an idea. I know of plenty of people who have passed away and had active facebook profiles and it is definitely an odd feeling seeing their page with an indefinite status that says 'looking forward to this weekend' or something like it. I think it is nice that the families have a chance to convert the page into an online memorial. Could this get abused? Probably, but i think that those abuses will be few and far between.
Trong - 27 October 2009 - 23:47
The "looking forward to this weekend" sounds really spooky
Guol - 28 October 2009 - 00:29
I definitely think this is a great idea. Though yeah I have no idea how they'd prevent abuse..
I mean they're saying they will use obituaries/proof of death as proof, but how hard could it be to fake something like that in photoshop etc?
kferd - 29 October 2009 - 03:14
Yea it is pretty creepy. There was one girl that had a countdown of when she was moving away (which she was excited about), and that was pretty weird to see it still ticking away on her page.
Mikkel Oerum - 27 October 2009 - 23:14
Well I think it's a needed feature. I had a friend who passed away and after they changed the design very recently, I keep being reminded to write something on his wall... I guess you could delete or lock those profiles, but I can see that some of his closest friends and his family take comfort in putting up a message there on special occasions.
Purple Haze - 27 October 2009 - 23:17
I think it's a good idea - if done properly. Lock the profile from appearing in quizzes/games (how am I supposed to feel when I get asked if a deceased classmate lets the yellow mellow?), make the profile a sort of memorial wall, let groups dedicated to the person post pics and memories, etc.
Xero - 27 October 2009 - 23:18
Its a good idea, better than all the myspace pages for dead people. I would think it'd be bad if they created a NEW account for them. But if they already had one, it'd be nice to reflect they'd passed.
+Shadrack - 27 October 2009 - 23:24
Sounds like a good idea.... until your friends kill you on Facebook.
Majesticmerc - 27 October 2009 - 23:53
Yeah I was thinking this. How easy would you suppose it would be to fake someones death while, say, they were on holiday?
Its the next stage up from Facebook Rape, Facebook murder
+Nicholas-c - 27 October 2009 - 23:53
Yeah... I already get "facebook raped' Enough as it is, dont need them pronouncing me dead as well every 2 days or so :P
hotdog963al - 27 October 2009 - 23:29
Definitely a good idea! Don't want to see them coming up in the "Suggestions" panel
cswadner - 28 October 2009 - 00:01
Could someone explain how this is new? My cousin died a few months ago and this feature was already available... in fact it was available back in 2007 based upon this article form USA Today... http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-0...ok-vatech_N.htm
Skyhawker - 28 October 2009 - 02:57
I just read that article, and I don't think there's a difference