Do you have a Digital Guardian?

We are setting up all these social media accounts what happens to them if we pass away?

There are so many social platforms and each one has their own process for handling the accounts of those who have passed away. It’s important to remember that your digital Guardian must be over 18 years and obviously it’s a good idea to let them know your intention and their responsibilities as your digital guardian before you appoint them. You will find that some people just won’t feel comfortable with seeing your social accounts after your death.

Facebook Legacy Contact

With Facebook you can appoint a legacy contact. Your legacy contact has the ability to delete your Facebook account memorialise your facebook account

If you choose to have your Facebook account memorialised your legacy contact can

• post a final message
• announce a memorial service on your timeline.
• respond to friend requests
• update your profile and cover photo
• download an archive of your photos and posts.

You will be relieved to know that your Legacy Contact cannot

• read your private messages,
• post messages on your behalf
• delete your more embarrassing images
• or log in to the account as you

If your family and Legacy Contact has decided it’s time to delete your memorialise account they can contact Facebook helpline to have this done.

What happens if you don’t appoint a Legacy Contact?

If you don’t assign a legacy contact your account will be memorialised by Facebook as soon as they become aware of your passing.

What happens Instagram accounts once you’ve passed away?

If you see an Instagram account that belongs to someone who’s passed away, you can report it to Instagram for memorialisation. Instagram will require proof of death, such as a link to an obituary or news article, to memorialise an account.

Instagram won’t let a family member of friend change the account in any way. It also stops showing up in public searches.

If you’re an immediate family member of the person, you can request the account be removed from Instagram. You will need to provide Instagram proof that you are an immediate family member by providing the deceased birth or death certificate.

Another important account to consider is your Google Account.

In Google account settings, you can nominate an Account Trustee or up to 10 trusted contact and decide what will you want shared with each one them,

• • photos
  • email
  • calendar dates.

You can set this up through the “Inactive Account Manager” You can also nominate when they’ll be contacted about your account, between three and 18 months after it becomes inactive. Regardless of the length of the timeout period you choose, you will always be notified 1 month before the timeout period ends.

If you account is inactive for the period you set an automated email will be sent to your trusted contacts. You get to write a specific message to each of your trusted contacts.

You can also choose wether to delete your entire google account. You can set this up by visiting your https://myaccount.google.com/data-and-personalization in the sections that says Download, delete or make a plan for your data.

Twitter and LinkedIn are popular platforms how do you set your digital guardian

LinkedIn allows a family member or close friend to close your LinkedIn account.

You’ll need to provide LinkedIn with:

• The member’s name
• The URL to their LinkedIn profile
• Your relationship to them
• Member’s email address
• Date they passed away
• Link to obituary
• Company they most recently worked at

If you want your LinkedIn account deleted by your family remember to keep your account work history up to date.

Other companies, including Snapchat, do not let you nominate a digital guardian, simply allowing your account to become inactive with time.

It’s important to discuss the Digital Guardian role with your family & download your special memories before your accounts are deleted. There are new business emerging where you can set up accounts to take care of all your digital memories.