This Tech Tip isn’t about protecting your personal information, it’s more about preserving or deleting it. Every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant has probably run across a Facebook® page belonging to someone who’s deceased. It might have been a friend, a nursing colleague from your RN hospital job, a CLNC® subcontractor or an attorney-client (which explains the unpaid invoices). The problem with Facebook is that if someone doesn’t have the log-in credentials to close an account, after someone passes, the page(s) remains forever.
Luckily Facebook allows you to appoint an heir or so-called “legacy contact” for your Facebook account and pages. This would give that heir the ability to post a notice that you’ve passed, accept (or deny) friend requests from that point forward, but not the right to read private messages (as if you’ll be worried about that).
With many registered nurses working in hospital jobs approaching ages that would make Methuselah feel young and getting ready to create a nursing shortage, it’s time to do something about your online presence.
I’ve long recommended that everyone keep an offline (written) or online record of their passwords (using a password vault). That will allow your survivors to clean out your bank accounts, close your social media accounts and decide how to handle your digital legacy. Facebook has taken a step in the right direction – but they want your “memorial page” to live forever. I’m sure that once you’ve passed you won’t care so instead, I recommend you make sure someone has your log-in credentials (and isn’t just a legacy contact) so they can close your account.
If you really think people will want to read and post to your Facebook account after your death, let’s just say your focus should be getting back to reality and on your legal nurse consulting business – not just the “likes” you’re going to leave behind.
Keep on Techin’,
Tom
P.S. Comment and share how you’ve covered your Facebook tracks.