Managing Social Media Accounts Of The Dearly Departed

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Today being the Day of the Dead, we’re tackling the sombre issue of how to deal with a deceased person’s social media accounts. Heart-wrenching as it may be, it can be a useful part of the grieving process for all involved…so, here the options available.

Delete everything

Before going through with this, speak with family and close friends. Once everyone is in agreement, you would need to contact the social media site with the deceased’s username, address, full name, death certificate, proof of your identity and your relationship with them.

You will be able to log in and save any photos or posts you’d like. If you’re not sure about saving something, save it anyway – it’s better than facing the regret later. And have someone sit with you during the process, in case it gets too difficult.

Set up a memorial page

Another option is to memorialise the dearly departed’s social media page, allowing friends and family to post tributes on special occasions. Not all platforms allow this, although Facebook and Instagram do, and even they do it differently. Facebook allows for a legacy contact, who can pin tributes and request to remove the page among other options. They can’t post or send messages on behalf of the deceased, or appoint a new legacy contact.

Instagram, on the other hand, can be memorialised, but there’s no legacy contact option. The profile cannot be found on “explore” and no new posts, tags or messages are allowed. There’s the option to completely delete the profile too.

Different pages, different methods

Keep in mind that each platform has different ways of handling the process. You can find more information for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn on each respective page.

We also take this moment, as Gadgets, to offer our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to whoever has lost someone close to them. The process should be straight forward, but do not hesitate to get in touch should the need arise.

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