Social media and death?

I'm constantly amazed at the things that the government seems to have time to think about. Thanks to the good folks over at the Consumerist blogsite, I am now in a position to advise you on your need for a social media will. It seems someone over at USA.gov took time out from solving the nation's problems to deal with this weighty issue.

According to the article on USA.gov, you should:

1. Review the privacy policies of your hosting site
2. Write down how you want the sites handled (take down, turn into a memorial, etc...)
3. Get yourself a social media executor and provide him or her with your list of sites and passwords
4. Make sure your will stipulates that your social media executor receives a copy of your death certificate 

Clearly the person that wrote this is not too clear on the concept. I have friends who could die and you wouldn't know it from their social media sites. They post to their blog maybe once every two or three years, tweet to their five friends, and limit Facebook to their immediate family. And what about the security of passwords? We constantly advise folks to change them regularly, make them complex and (wait for it) NEVER WRITE THEM DOWN!

Don't get me wrong. Estate planning is something requiring serious attention from everyone, particularly if you have a family to protect. In fairness, USA.gov does have a page on estate planning that discusses advanced medical directives and wills (but not powers of attorney, oddly). But a social media will? I think my family will have more pressing concerns when I die than whether my newsletter gets published on time.

Comments

[John R. Schmidt]

This is laying the framework for allowing the survivors to turn off the deceased's social media, so they're not reminded sadly when old posts on facebook or twitter resurface. It's actually worth taking a moment to figure out, unlike "Porn Buddies" (Coupling, british TV show)

[Lucien Canton]

Good point. However, I think turning off accounts can be handled by a regular executor along with all the other administrative tasks without culling it out as a "social media will". I just don't see it as that important. I do agree that having the information readily available for the executor would be a good thing, similar to providing information on financial accounts and such.