Having a friend or loved one pass away is never a fun thing to go through. With a society so entrenched in social networking, the accounts and services that are left behind when the original owner passes often get forgotten and left in a state of “always on”. In the case of Facebook profiles, once a person had passed, unless someone else knew the password that was it. There was nothing anyone could do. The page was there forever, ingrained in the digital world. Realizing this extreme oversight, Facebook has finally rolled out a new “memorial” type service for such accounts.
When a an individual passes, anyone (friend or family) can notify Facebook. A family member would probably be more appropriate in this case as additional information and some proof of death is required. You wouldn’t want false “deceased” profiles popping up all over now would you? Once all of the official hoops have been hopped through, the deceased user’s Facebook page goes through a memorial transformation. No there aren’t any stupid, tacky banners or other gimmicky fluff. This memorization process follows the “less is more” philosophy. This newer stripped down page has certain personal information removed though much of the original material is still left for those wanting to leave a heartfelt comment. Also worth noting, once memorialized, only friends can leave comments and other wall posts.
While we never want to experience this, it is inevitable and does happen. Thankfully Facebook has made the whole process a tiny bit easier.
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