By Chris Scott Barr
I am a frequenter of Facebook, like many people these days. A couple of weeks ago I saw that one of my suggested friends was a guy that I had gone to school with. It’s not unusual to see something like that, but this one was just a little different from the rest. This old schoolmate had passed away a couple of years ago. This of course brought up the question of just what happens to a person’s social networking page when they pass on?
Generally the page just stays as it is, unless someone else has the password to the account. Facebook, however, has finally stepped up to do something for people when tragedy strikes. If you have a friend or relative that has passed away, you can notify Facebook so that their page can be memorialized. There is some sort of confirmation process (and they ask you for proof in the form of an obituary or news article) so that a person isn’t accidentally labeled as deceased. Once this has been done, the account will be memorialized and stripped of certain personal information. Confirmed friends will be able to leave posts on the person’s wall in remembrance.
