Four years ago, a lawyer I had reconnected with on LinkedIn the year before passed away suddenly. The year before Steve died, we traded messages a couple of times. Steve and I met shortly after I started practicing law. He became a mentor and friend. However, as our careers moved in different directions, we lost touch. But thanks to social media, we were able to reconnect.
A year and a half after Steve’s death, I received a disturbing message from LinkedIn asking me to Congratulate Steve on a work anniversary. It was weird and creepy. Even so, I assumed that Steve’s adult children, the heirs to his estate in California, would eventually get around to removing Steve’s digital profile from the Internet.
It has now been over four years since Steve passed away suddenly and again I received a request from LinkedIn to Congratulate Steve on a work anniversary. What would otherwise be a benign message left me with an unsettling feeling. There is no way for me to stop the messages from being posted each year. I do not have the authority to delete his online profile. My only recourse is to figure out how to unlink myself from my deceased friend, but his profile will remain forever until someone has authority to remove it.
Ten years ago, we did not have to think about how our online presence would be deleted when we pass, though now we do. If you think about all the online accounts you have with different passwords and methods for authentication, you realize how difficult it would be for your loved ones to access and delete all the accounts. It is even more concerning if your loved ones do not have the passwords to access the accounts and the online entity will not allow access. In this situation, your online presence will continue forever and in the situation of LinkedIn you could receive a haunting message each year to Congratulate a deceased friend on their work anniversary.
None of us think we will die suddenly while out for a ride on our bicycle, but it does happen. You can save your family the grief of recurring messages from online accounts such as LinkedIn after you are gone by planning ahead. When you have a Will that includes language giving access to all your online accounts, websites and devices, your Executor will have the authority to take steps to erase social media accounts like LinkedIn. I am sure that LinkedIn never intended to link you in to deceased persons, but that is what happens when you do not have a plan in place to unlink yourself after you are gone.
Welcome! 