When you join Facebook that last thing on your mind is what will happen to my Facebook profile when I die, but it is something you should give some thought too. Just as you would select someone to be the executor of your Will you should select someone to be your digital executor to take care of those old emails you saved, your photo albums on Flickr, your Facebook profile, etc. If you have a digital executor, that person can take control of your Facebook profile when you are gone and take care of things on your behalf, no questions asked.
Facebook offers three options for handling a Facebook account when someone has died:
- Have your profile memorialized.
- Request to have the account deleted.
- Download the contents of the account and then have it deleted.
There is another option that lets you send out a last message; it's the Facebook app "If I die." For in depth summaries of each option, including the "If I Die" Facebook app, check out Facebook.About.com.