Facebook adds new “legacy contact” feature.

Facebook’s new “legacy contact” is the latest response to the growing need for better options to help manage digital assets upon death. Google has offered users the option of adding an “Inactive Account Manager” for some time now. But the “legacy contact” feature is a big departure from Facebook’s previous policy, which only allowed user accounts to be memorialized.

Read more about protecting your digital assets.

The legacy contact announcement was made on Thursday, February 12th, 2015, on the company’s website. Included in the information Facebook released were detailed instructions on how to set up your legacy contact and details on what the designation allows the contact to do with your information.

Today we’re introducing a new feature that lets people choose a legacy contact—a family member or friend who can manage their account when they pass away. Once someone lets us know that a person has passed away, we will memorialize the account and the legacy contact will be able to:

  • Write a post to display at the top of the memorialized Timeline (for example, to announce a memorial service or share a special message)
  • Respond to new friend requests from family members and friends who were not yet connected on Facebook
  • Update the profile picture and cover photo

If someone chooses, they may give their legacy contact permission to download an archive of the photos, posts and profile information they shared on Facebook. Other settings will remain the same as before the account was memorialized. The legacy contact will not be able to log in as the person who passed away or see that person’s private messages.

Alternatively, people can let us know if they’d prefer to have their Facebook account permanently deleted after death.

Read the full announcement: Facebook corporate page legacy contact announcement.

 More on Facebook’s Legacy Contact Policy

Facebook Heir? Time to Choose Who Manages Your Account When You Die

What is a legacy contact? Facebook Help Center.

Adding a Legacy Contact | Facebook Newsroom

Share

Recent Posts

What’s It Like to Autopsy Marilyn Monroe?

The most famous coroner on earth may well be Dr. Thomas Tsunetomi Noguchi, who was…

11 months ago

Day of the Dead Takes on the World

The day after Halloween, and the day after that, is Day of the Dead, and…

1 year ago

Grieving for the Terrible Tragedy on Maui

Following on his recent posts regarding deaths by extreme heat, Justin Nobel shares his thoughts…

1 year ago

Death by Extreme Heat is a 21st Century Death

Few parts of the country have been spared from July's soaring temperatures. In fact, July…

1 year ago

Could tiny-brained humans have actually dug graves half a million years ago?

Deep inside a South African cave called Rising Star, scientists have made an incredible discovery—a…

1 year ago

Welcome to A Pacific Island Nation with 125 million people—and almost no gun deaths

Last week, in Nakano City, Japan, an evacuation center was opened in the gymnasium of…

1 year ago