Facebook have announced a new feature whereby users can now decide who will look after their account when they die.
According to reports, the Legacy Contact is now part of the privacy settings of Facebook where users can go in and select a friend who they wish to give control of their page to after their death.
Alternatively, users can also ask that their account be deactivated instead.
These new memorialized accounts will also be given a ‘remembering’ label before the name of the person so that other users will know that the person has passed away.
“Family members will tell us ‘I really want to communicate information about the memorial service with this person’s friends’,” said Vanessa Callison-Burch, Facebook product manager.
“The idea of a pinned post comes from there. People typically don’t think about this very much until they have an experience of loss.”
The feature is now available in the US and will be rolled out across other Facebook sites in the coming months.
It comes after the introduction of a memorialization system where people can let Facebook know if a user has passed away.
The question behind a user’s online presence once they have passed away has been subject to much debate in recent years.
