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Source: ONE News -
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When you are writing up your will, it may be a good idea to think about what to do with your virtual affairs, a technology commentator warns.
Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites may need dealing to before you die, and Sarah Putt, the editor of ComputerWorld, told TV ONE's Breakfast there are a few options to consider.
"Maybe it's something you want to think about when you're creating a will - we are very careful about what happens to our possessions, our mortgages, our homes, and our belongings - maybe we need to think about our virtual lives as well," she said.
"With Facebook you need to make three decisions - one is just to leave it, one is to turn it into a memorial, where people can leave notes about the deceased, about you when you've gone. And the other is to kill it - get rid of it."
Putt said next of kin need to contact Facebook and prove a person is dead before changing the status of their page.
"You need to go to Facebook - there's a form on their page - as the nearest and dearest, or next of kin."
"They need to send through an obituary or a death notice or something to prove that this person is no longer alive, and they also need to prove that they are next of kin and to give their identification."
It is a straightforward process and Facebook will manage the page accordingly, Putt says.
She told Breakfast this morning that a site called deceasedaccount.com is a website designed to help people learn about their options with social media beyond the grave.