Where do you go when you're gone?

Today I was thinking about new social media, and how individuals interact in virtual communities through creating profiles on social networking sites. I then got to thinking, what happens to your personal profile when you pass away? Would I want my profile to remain active in the public sphere? Death is obviously not something people like to think of when they are creating their accounts, or actively using them, however, nobody lives forever, and this is an important question that needs to be addressed.

When thinking about this I asked a few friends what their opinions were on the matter. My question to them was "If you passed away, would you want your social networking accounts such as Facebook and Twitter and E-mail accounts likeHotmail, G-mail etc. to be taken down?" I received three different responses. The first response was a definite yes. She said "I think it's weird to have people look at my profile and post stuff if I'm gone. Somebody could make a memory group but I wouldn't want to have a profile." My second response was "I'm not sure, thats a tough question. I think it is a nice way for friends and family to post comments and memories. At the same time, I think if you're gone, it is a bit strange to have an active profile." Finally, another response was "I wouldn't want them taken down right away, I guess it depends on how old I was when I died though. Like if it were to happen tomorrow I'd want my accounts up for longer than if it happened at 85." Personally I think this is a tough question. I shared these responses with you because they were all different and quite interesting. Personally I think I would want my account taken down. There is something slightly morbid about having an active profile of me when I no longer am around. Although it is nice way for people to remember me, I think if I was close to you, I would want you to remember me for our face to face interactions, not my Facebook account. I think if I had a Foundation/Scholarship set up in my honor/name then that should have its own webpage. I would want to take down my social networking profiles and replace it with this webpage. That way if people wanted to write, there is a forum to do it there. But where do you go? and Where does your information go? These are definitely concerning questions.

I found an interesting blog written by Paul Silver, which talks about what social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and E-mail accounts like Hotmail,G-mail and Yahoo mail do when you pass away. Death and Social Media « Paul Silver's blog. Interestingly, Facebook keeps the profiles open for a period of time to allow for people to post comments. They used to take the accounts down, however, after the Virgina Tech shooting friends wanted to be able to leave comments in a form of communication they were used to and comfortable with. The Facebook Terms illustrate this is more detail. With respect to Twitter accounts, if you do not have access to the person's e-mail address and password, you will not be able to access their account. There is just the option to tell the network about the death, then they may be able to tell the person's friend's by changing the status of the account. Hotmail the free version will delete an account if it has not been logged in to for 120 days. G-mail will provide access to the deseased account if you provide them with a copy of a death certificate or a letter from a power of attorney. On the other hand, Yahoo Mail will not give you access to somebody else's account as they say it "breaks the data protection act." This is an issue that most people do not commonly think about, however, a rather important one. Social networks are placed in a difficult position as they want to be considerate to family who have lost a loved one, as well as friends and people who communicated with that individual through these sites. My main question of concern is where do I go when I'm gone? What happens to all of the personal information trapped in my account? It is naive to think it just gets deleted. Nothing is "just deleted" off the internet.

If I were to ask you the same question I asked my friends earlier today, what would your response be? I think this is a very intriguing question that can fuel an interesting conversation. Where would you want to go when you are gone? and Where do you think you go?

Until next time,

The Active Citizen