Legacy Contact – A family member or friend who can manage their account when they pass away.
Facebook is a place to share and connect with friends and family. For many of us, it’s also a place to remember and honor those we’ve lost. When a person passes away, their account can become a memorial of their life, friendships and experiences.
Today facebook introduced a new feature that lets people choose a legacy contact—a family member or friend who can manage their account when they pass away. Once someone report that a person has passed away, facebook will memorialize the account and the legacy contact will be able to:
- Write a post to display at the top of the memorialized Timeline (for example, to announce a memorial service or share a special message)
- Respond to new friend requests from family members and friends who were not yet connected on Facebook
- Update the profile picture and cover photo
If someone chooses, they may give their legacy contact permission to download an archive of the photos, posts and profile information they shared on Facebook. Other settings will remain the same as before the account was memorialized. The legacy contact will not be able to log in as the person who passed away or see that person’s private messages.
Alternatively, people can also request to have their Facebook account permanently deleted after death.
Until now, when someone passed away, facebook offered a basic memorialized account which was viewable, but could not be managed by anyone. By talking to people who have experienced loss, facebook realized there is more they can do to support those who are grieving and those who want a say in what happens to their account after death.
Here’s how to choose a legacy contact:
Open your settings. Choose Security and then Legacy Contact at the bottom of the page.
After choosing your legacy contact, you’ll have the option to send a message to that person.
You may give your legacy contact permission to download an archive of the posts, photos and profile info you’ve shared on Facebook.
facebook also redesigned memorialized profiles to pay tribute to the deceased by adding “Remembering” above their name and making it possible for their legacy contact to pin a post to the top of their Timeline.
Currently, facebook has introduced legacy contacts in the US only and will roll out this feature to more countries soon.
Setting up a legacy contact is completely optional.
We hope this work will help people experience loss with a greater sense of possibility, comfort and support.
Do let us know you views about this feature in comments
