Facebook is the world’s largest social network with more than 2.5 billion monthly active users. As it relates to Facebook profiles, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, famously said in a 2009 interview with Wired magazine: “Think about what people are doing on Facebook today. They're keeping up with their friends and family, but they're also building an image and identity for themselves, which in a sense is their brand.”

At the highest level, a brand can be defined as a particular identity or image regarded as an asset. These social media identities or brands are increasingly valuable and personal assets that may not be addressed in funeral planning.  After a loved one passes away, a modern and frequently asked question is what happens to social media profiles after death? There are 2 ways social media profiles can be handled.

1. Profiles can be reported to the social networks and properly closed, which means the profile is deleted, or memorialized, which means the phrase “Remembering” is added to the decedent’s name to clearly acknowledge they have passed away.
2. Profiles can go unreported and remain active on social networks, which means the accounts are open to everyday use such as logging in, posting photos and videos, sending and receiving messages, and appearing in notifications and advertisements.

This blog post will address the first approach, which is a best practice, of properly reporting a decedent’s social media profiles to the social networks results in closing a profile and definitively restricts any further use, or memorializing a profile which is an option only for Facebook or Instagram profiles. Closing a profile deletes the account and personal information from the social network, which is a secure and straight forward solution. Memorializing a profile prevents anyone from logging into the account to protect against unauthorized use, and the profile stays online as a place for family, friends and others to gather. Again, this memorialization option is only available on Facebook and Instagram, which are owned by the same company. At this time, all other social networks simply offer one option to close and delete the profile.

Memorializing a Facebook profile is an increasingly popular solution after a user passes away. Similar to learning about a death directly from a person, the indirect communication through a memorialized Facebook profile can prompt family, friends, colleagues and others to reach out and offer support and help with the funeral and bereavement process. After a funeral occurs, a memorialized profile can offer a place to find ongoing solace and emotional support. A memorialized Facebook profile shows the word “Remembering” next to the decedent’s name.  In turn, when family, friends, colleagues and others visit the profile of the decedent, it clearly communicates they have passed away.

Additionally, a limited option prior to a user passing away, is the ability to appoint what is known as a Legacy contact, which is someone the decedent chose prior to death to look after their memorialized account. Legacy contacts have the option to write a post for the profile such as a final message or provide information about a memorial service, update profile pictures, and request the removal of a decedent’s account. However, a Legacy contact cannot log into the account, read messages, remove friends, or make new friend requests. Essentially, a Legacy contact has very limited access to the decedent’s profile as an extension of their own Facebook profile and account capabilities or functionality. We will address the pros and cons of appointing a Legacy contact when we discuss pre-need planning approaches next.

It is important to know that memorialization is an option on Facebook since it can be a helpful aspect of social media in the context of funeral service. To summarize the first approach of closing or memorializing a social media profile at the time of death, this is the preferred, prudent and most practical method to mitigate the emotional impact social media can have on family, friends, colleagues and others in the community.

To learn more, we invite you to attend our Continuing Education (CE) webinar titled titled “Social Media & Funeral Planning”, which provides information on social media in the context of social science and funeral planning. During this 1 hour informational session, we offer practical guidance licensees can share with families to address concerns about a decedent’s social media profiles. Upon completion of this program, the licensee will gain a clear understanding of the concerns family members have about a decedent’s social media profiles, and become familiar with the solutions and services available to address those concerns as part of modern-day funeral planning.

Click here to register >

​Profile Peace is an online profile memorialization & closure service that helps social media users and family members lay digital identities to rest as part of modern day funeral planning.  This blog post will address pre-planning or pre-need approaches for managing social media profiles posthumously.  

As it relates to pre-need approaches, which in the context of funeral planning, means before a death has occurred, there are 4 main solutions to consider for closing or memorializing social media profiles.
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1. Legal Will
2. Third Party Service
3. Trusted Person
4. Legacy Contact

First, and most formally, is to include social media profiles as part of a will. Traditionally, a will, sometimes called a “last will and testament,” is a document that states your final wishes and instructions about what should happen to property after death. A variation on a traditional will is what some call a digital will, which can be a more informal document that allows family members to close down your online accounts, including social media. This first approach can be done using a variety of estate planning services, whether online through a website like LegalZoom or more personally with an attorney in a face-to-face meeting. Either way, when family members know your account information and are granted permission to manage accounts through a formal will, they have the most control over social media profiles and can delete or memorialize profiles accordingly. While logging into the decedent’s account to delete their profile is against the Terms of Use for social networks, a will is an effective pre-need solution.

A second pre-need option is using a third-party service such as Profile Peace where a social media user can list their accounts in a secure online database along with their closure and memorialization preferences, and then authorize the service provider to submit their requests upon their death. This option is a best practice in addition to a will, and is a new and modern alternative to formal estate planning. Since more than 60% of people do not have a will or estate plan according to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), pre-planning services like Profile Peace are a practical and cost effective social media solution. This is a new service being introduced by organizations such as Profile Peace in order to meet social media user’s directives for how to handle profiles after death. Click here to learn more about the process Profile Peace provides for listing profiles, selecting preferences, and granting legal authority to a social media service provider to act on your behalf at death.

A third pre-need option is informally sharing a list of profiles and passwords with a trusted family member, friend or other person. To reiterate, this option directly violates a social networks Terms of Use. For example, Facebook clearly states to “Not share your password, give access to your Facebook account to others, or transfer your account to anyone else (without our permission).” The idea behind this approach is that the person you trust to share the information with can log-in and delete your accounts directly. Keep in mind that sharing information with a trusted family member or friend also leaves that document open to theft or unauthorized use if left unsecured. So this pre-need solution is not a best practice, but can be a practical approach to consider in the absence of alternative solutions.

Moving onto the fourth pre-need planning solution is appointing a legacy contact for Facebook. As discussed earlier when addressing properly closing a social media profile and memorializing accounts, this is an effective solution for Facebook, but does not help close other social media accounts. The result is that the legacy contact is then granted permission to formally request the deletion of a decedent’s Facebook profile at any time.  As other social networks progress and evolve to meet the needs of their users, we hope to see similar legacy functionality in the future. Presently, the option of appointing a legacy contact does not address other social media profiles, and therefore is not considered a best practice since it is not a complete and comprehensive solution.

To summarize these four pre-planning approaches, creating a will, appointing a pre-planning service like Profile Peace, trusting a friend or family member with your passwords, or a choosing a legacy contact are the main ways to pre-plan for a decedent’s social media accounts, and having a will in place or a pre-planning service like Profile Peace are best practice solutions. Click here to learn more about our Pre-Planning  Social Media Service > ​

From the Profile Peace family to yours, we wish you and your loved ones a very  Happy Easter full of sincere gratitude, remembrance, and appreciation.

As the holiday brings a renewed spirit of faith, healing, and love, may your Easter basket be filled with joy, happiness, and peace this season and always.

We warmly welcome you to the Profile Peace community, and thank you for supporting our mission of providing purposeful profile memorialization and closure.