With the rising in digital media, the online profile has become as important as your real-world identity. But have you ever wonder what happens to Facebook , Google +, Twitter and email accounts if someone passed out. Since nobody has your passwords they tend to live even after you die. So In this article, we will find out what can be done in such case.
Here are some reason why you should worry
- Nowadays many bills are sent to your email address.
- Online banking passwords.
- Your personal data like your residence, contact info, habits, private messages and banking details all remain in their server where you don’t have any control now.
After digging out the privacy policy of famous social network this is what I found out.
What happens to your Facebook account when you die
Facebook offers an option between either deleting the account or rather memorialized it which means allowing your Facebook friends to still post on your wall but important contact information will be deleted after the close friends report them of the loss. Obviously, they will require some documentation of the same.
More information on what happens to the deceased person Facebook profile and how to memorialized it can be found out here.
What happens to your Google account when you die
Unlike Facebook, your Gmail account expire after 9 months from the date of the last login. This may due to the fact that your mail holds far more private as compared to data in your social profile. However, there is a feature called Inactive Account Manager where you can tell Google what to do with your emails and other Google service if you don’t log in for a certain period of time
You can report Google and apply for Gmail content from here.
What happens to your Twitter account when you die
Just like Facebook twitter has the same policies you can either memorialized your account or completely delete your account. Love once have to contact Twitter with all legal documents and request them deceased or deactivate the account.
What can be done?
After seeing the policies you might not want your beloved person, to go through the troublesome procedure just to deceased your account. So here are some of the things that can be done.
1. Set up will or write down all the passwords for bank accounts, social media, etc in a piece of paper and give it to your trusted ones. Make sure to inform them if you update the password afterward.
2. Sign up for online services which will automatically send your account info to your beneficiary after you die. You can use the free service like DeadSocial to published customized messages to Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin once you are gone.
