Max Kelly, Facebook's head of security, announced Facebook's policy of "memorialising" profiles of users who have died, taking them out of the public search results, sealing them from any future log-in attempts and leaving the wall open for family and friends to pay their respects. Though most media reports claimed this was a new Facebook feature, a spokeswoman for the company said that it's an option the site has had since its early days.
The company decided to publicise the policy because of a backlash caused by a new version of the site's homepage, which includes automatically generated "suggestions" of people to "reconnect" with. Within days of the launch, Twitter users and blog posts from across the Web complained that some of these Facebook suggestions were for friends who had died. "Would that I could ...," complained a user on Twitter.
"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 memorialised," Kelly said in the post. To discourage pranksters, Facebook does require proof before sending a profile down the digital river Styx. This need only be 'documentary' proof rather than a decaying boney finger or bleached skull bone, allegedly.
Family or friends must fill out a Facebook form, including a link to an obituary or other information confirming a user's death, before the profile is officially memorialised. Once that is completed, the user will cease showing up in Facebook's suggestions and certain information like status updates won't show up in Facebook's news feed, the stream of real-time user updates that is the site's centerpiece. If relatives prefer not to have the profile stand as an online memorial, Facebook says it will remove the account altogether and leave it to rest in peace or archive.
The company decided to publicise the policy because of a backlash caused by a new version of the site's homepage, which includes automatically generated "suggestions" of people to "reconnect" with. Within days of the launch, Twitter users and blog posts from across the Web complained that some of these Facebook suggestions were for friends who had died. "Would that I could ...," complained a user on Twitter.
"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 memorialised," Kelly said in the post. To discourage pranksters, Facebook does require proof before sending a profile down the digital river Styx. This need only be 'documentary' proof rather than a decaying boney finger or bleached skull bone, allegedly.
Family or friends must fill out a Facebook form, including a link to an obituary or other information confirming a user's death, before the profile is officially memorialised. Once that is completed, the user will cease showing up in Facebook's suggestions and certain information like status updates won't show up in Facebook's news feed, the stream of real-time user updates that is the site's centerpiece. If relatives prefer not to have the profile stand as an online memorial, Facebook says it will remove the account altogether and leave it to rest in peace or archive.
No comments:
Post a Comment