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What happens to all my social networking information when I die?

Posted Feb 17th, 2010 at 12:11 PM and seen
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More and more people join social networking sites every day. For some, these sites serve as the primary means of staying in touch and reconnecting with family and friends. These online networks are attractive because they let us post our thoughts, pictures, videos and other content for those we care about to see.

For the creators of popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, statistics that say 55.6 million adults in the United States have a social networking account is a great thing (Forrester Research). But what happens when the inevitable happens? When people pass away, what happens to all that personal information they put online?

Full story at HowStuffWorks.com.

Total aggregation of HowStuffWorks.com.

 HowStuffWorks.com

Comments (6)

Feb 18, 2010
allenmireles said...
This is an excellent article about a topic that impacts all of us--even though we probably don't think about it as often as we should.

Another valuable resource is Adele McAclear's blog http://deathanddigitallegacy.com. Ms. McAclear has built a reputation as an excellent writer and speaker on this topic in Canada.

Feb 18, 2010
Mauricio said...
Facebook's "memorial page" thing is a pretty good idea. I do sometimes wonder what would happen with online profiles once a person dies.
Feb 18, 2010
robwhitney said...
I recently discovered a co-worker from several years ago had past away suddenly, from their FaceBook page. It was truly strange to see all of the RIP messages on FB, knowing they'd never be seen by that person. How long it will stay available was something I wondered too.
Feb 18, 2010
Nathan Lustig said...
Good article. Social networks, along with digital photos, domain names and all sorts of other digital assets are going to have to be accounted for in a person's estate plan in the near future.

I run a company in this space and second Adele McAclear's blog http://deathanddigitallegacy.com as well as Evan Carrol and John Romano's http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com. Both are great, neutral references where you can learn more about digital assets and what happens to them after you pass away.

Feb 20, 2010
social media expert said...
that is something interesting and the other day i was thinking about it , but wonder if there would be a mechanism that they would realize that the person is gone and he/she would not be using the page anymore
Feb 20, 2010
social networking design said...
When i die is just unofficial,i would not answer that one,sure.

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