(Image: Facebook)
The throne, the titles, the lands—you can get them all by arranging the right “accident.” But access to the private Facebook account? Until recently, that was impossible. But now Facebook has added a feature called a “legacy contact.” In the event of your death, even under dubious circumstances, your designated heir will inherit your Facebook account. This permits the inheritor to change the profile and cover photos, respond to friend requests, and make other changes to your account. Geoffrey A. Fowler writes in the Wall Street Journal:
Being a legacy contact is different from simply logging into the account of the deceased, and there are important things legacy contacts can’t alter. They can’t edit what the deceased has already posted, or what his or her friends post on the page. If you chose to post a photo while you are living that looks embarrassing when you are gone, your legacy contact can’t do anything about it. A legacy contact also can’t decide to delete a whole account. […]
There’s more fine print worth paying attention to: You can only select one person—and no backup—so spouses and partners who often travel together may face a difficult choice about whether to designate each other. Ms. Seth says Facebook is continuing to think about how it might allow for contingent legacy contacts.
Facebook members can change their legacy contact selection at any time, but once they’ve died, a legacy contact can’t pass along the responsibility to someone else.
-via Joe Carter