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There is Life After Death, At Least on Facebook

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There is Life After Death, At Least on Facebook

Did you know that 10,000 Facebook users die every day on average? Believe it or not, it's true. What happens to their accounts once they've gone to their great reward? Well, until recently there were only two options. 

life after death

If Facebook didn't know someone was dead, anyone with their login and password could get into the account and delete it (or whatever other macabre plans they had in mind). If Facebook did know they were dead, the account got locked down but remained on the site, essentially becoming a forever-more social memorial to the deceased. Now that's a bit macabre.

Your Social Heir
Facebook has made some bonehead decisions over the year (you know it's true!), but this time they got it right. They now will let any user pick someone to become the manager of their account after they have passed from this world.

This option is only available in the US for now, but it's rolling out to all users soon. If you don't want to pick a Facebook heir, you can alternately choose to have your account deleted when you die, something that also wasn't possible before.

To choose your "legacy contact", just go to your security settings - that's under the little upside-down arrow at the top right of your page, if you've never gone there before - and choose someone to take over upon your demise. Or choose for your account to be deleted. If you choose a legacy contact, they have to also be a Facebook user.

Keeping it Not Weird
The whole "memorialized account" thing was weird enough by itself, but use some discretion if you pick a legacy contact. Your cousin Ed with the really strange sense of humor probably isn't your best bet here. Do you really want your online life to go forward after you're gone, especially if it goes on in an extremely bizarre way? Probably not.

Personally, I think I'd choose to delete my account. Or at least pick a relative that I know I could trust to have some common sense and decency. But that's just me. Maybe you want to have an online afterlife that freaks people out. If that's you're thing, more power to ya. 

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Socialty is a full-service social media marketing and social recruiting agency in Chicago.  We create content, websites, blog posts, email marketing and strategic marketing plans for small and medium size businesses. Our social recruiting team helps you attract talented candidates via social media outlets.  Socialty connects you to your audience and potential employees.  We'll keep you social while you carry on with your business.  Keep Social and Carry On!

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Making the Case for Social Diversification

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Making the Case for Social Diversification

If your social media strategy is a generic set of rules and practices that you use whether you're on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest, there's a very good reason that you aren't getting the results you want: One size very rarely fits all, despite what clothing marketers claim about their gloves and hats.

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3 Great Benefits of LinkedIn's Long-Form Post Feature

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3 Great Benefits of LinkedIn's Long-Form Post Feature

LinkedIn is an absolutely essential part of any professional's online presence, whether you're the CEO of a multinational corporation or a freelance mommy blogger working in your PJs while keeping one eye on your toddler. That's not the main point of this post, but I'd thought I'd start there just in case you haven't fully committed to the idea yet.

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