How to memorialise a person’s Facebook account after his/her passing...

Like it or not, more people than ever before are using Facebook to keep in touch with family members and make a log of things happening in their daily life.

But have you ever wondered what happens to a Facebook account once a person passes away? You have two options — either delete the account or memorialise his/her life forever. Here is a look at how to do it.

Step 1

Choose a legacy contact.

A user can choose a friend or family member to manage their memorialised account upon their passing. Legacy contacts will have the power to pin a post at the top of the deceased user’s Timeline, respond to new friend requests, and update the person’s profile picture and cover photo.

With explicit permission from the deceased user, they can also download/archive a user’s photo, timeline posts and profile information.

However, legacy contacts CANNOT log into the deceased user’s account and see their private information — like Facebook messages.

Step 2

Designate a legacy contact

Once you open your Facebook account, go to Settings > Security > Legacy Contact. Click Edit, type in your friend's name, and click Add. You can send them a message about your choice immediately or click ‘Not Now’ if you don’t want them to know immediately.

Even if you fail to choose a legacy contact before you die, your Facebook account can still be memorialised, but in a different way.

What to do if a person has not chosen a Legacy contact?

If your friend passed away without setting up a legacy contact, you can still request Facebook to memorialise his/her account. Use this form to do it: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/234739086860192

You should provide the person’s name, approximate date of death, and optional proof of death (such as a link to an obituary).

A memorialised account will have the word ‘Remembering’ in front of the person's name, and will not show up in Facebook ads, ‘People You May Know,’ or send out reminders on the person’s birthday. Memorialised accounts cannot be logged into.

If you’re an immediate family member, you can request that the account be deleted instead of memorialised.

Courtesy: cnet.com