Social Media After Death

Every year in February my Facebook timeline fills up with dedications, memories and pictures dedicated to Folashade Lukoma*. She passed away suddenly 10 days before her February birthday in 2012. We went to college together and although we weren’t especially close, our friend circles overlapped in major ways. She was truly beloved, I mean, everyone shared an inside joke with Folashade. I still picture the girl with the twinkling eyes, giggling quietly in the corner with one of her many best friends. She was a certified genius with a wicked sense of humor -yet stood above us all with the morality and righteousness of someone older than her years.

After she passed her family kept her facebook page, and turned it into a living memorial. Every year in February a week is spent celebrating her life, her birthday and it feels like her spirit rises to dance in the celebration, smile at the sadness, nod at the remembrance. People post forgotten pictures, share favorite memories, and note little things that remind them of her-even after eight years without her on this earthly realm.

I find this week beautiful and aspirational. To be loved out loud like this by family and friends who are not afraid to express their love and admiration in a safe place that Folashade created herself- her Facebook Friend group. 

It is always a great time to think about what happens to your social media after you are gone. Our digital footprints can live on forever in the public eye -thankfully there are many options available. 

There are options to remove your account or memorialize it from our most used social media platforms. Sometimes it’s a simple request like Facebook and Instagram, and other times it’s more complicated to remove your account and you must provide a death certificate of the deceased for platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter.

And then there are those accounts that don’t seem to want to budge, like Activision. It’s not possible to delete your Activision account- but you can delete all your information -rendering the account useless and clearing out the connections to who you are. That is one password you will need to leave for someone to clear it after you are gone.  

Check the chart below to easily find out what your options are to retire your social media accounts.

*name changed for privacy

Don’t forget to install the Rest In Power app so you can create and send this chart to your person!