No worries, you can still live on social media after death

The late Rahma Makuhi’s online life was robust and entertaining, especially to her followers and friends.

For someone in public relations and marketing, a dazzling social media presence was expected of the much-loved woman from Gatarakwa in Nyeri County.

Of all the social media platforms she was in,  it was on Facebook that her presence was most felt. Her legion of friends had come to expect a daily post, sometimes two. Her messages were unfiltered and full of mirth; snippets of a life on the move.

It has been four years since Rahma died, but every 12th of August, her birthday, friends receive a notification from Facebook, reminding them to help celebrate the day. In a sense, Rahma’s timeline was a biography, a diary that opened a window into her life.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The social media phenomenon has captured the world in an unprecedented way, connecting the entire universe, forging friendships in a borderless world. Like Rahma, many people all over the world have invested a lot in social media, sharing part of their lives, stories and achievements.

But what happens to the digital assets and legacy when one dies? The popular adage is that the internet remembers everything, but it is often a guide for the cautionary. That photograph you took while on a tipple might cost you a prospective job.

Rahma had activated the settings on her Facebook account that allowed only her Friends access her content and pictures. They are the only ones who can still “connect” with her, see her timeline, see her stories and pictures. Nobody else, not even a family member who was not her Facebook friend, can access her account.

“It feels bad that I can see only her profile picture,” says one of Rahma’s sisters. “I wish I could scroll down her page, but sadly I can’t.”

FRIEND REQUESTS

It is a scenario like Rahma’s that has prompted some of the major social media sites, top of them Facebook, to devise ways that can help an account owner “live” on after their demise.

The setting, relatively new, allows an account holder to choose a legacy contact – mostly a trusted person or family member – to look after the account if it’s memorialised (notification and confirmation of the demise of the account owner by Facebook).

The legacy account is authorised to perform a limited but important number of things on behalf of the deceased, including writing a pinned post, respond to new friend requests, update a profile and cover photograph, and request the removal of the account.

The legacy account, however, cannot change or remove past posts, photographs, remove friends, send new friend requests or read messages.

LEGACY LOCKER

Desire for perpetuity has spawned a new product for firms that traditionally handle wills.

An American company, Legacy Locker, allows people create a “legacy letter” to be automatically emailed to all their contacts in the event of their death.

That can include passwords and instructions for their digital profiles. The email can also contain a video.

Twitter has a policy that explains that it will “work with a person authorised to act on the behalf of the estate or with a verified immediate family member of the deceased to have an account deactivated”.

While social media is considered by some as a platform of vanity where insecure people preen and flaunt their lifestyles, securing one’s legacy is key.

Consider this, decades from now, your great-great-grandchildren may be able to hear your voice, tour your mind through your posts, and in your pictures if the family genes travelled right.