Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#1

Post by madmotive » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 12:03 PM UTC

Facebook 'memorialises' profiles
news.bbc.co.uk

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#2

Post by zzleeper » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 12:40 PM UTC

A very good friend of mine just died yesterday, so I kinda understand why it's a really good idea to do that =/

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#3

Post by DanielBMarkham » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 12:41 PM UTC

At first blush, this seems cheesy, but it's the wave of the future.

Pieces of dead people are going to persist more and more on the net. The pieces will become more and more interactive and eventually dead people will outnumber living people on the net.

Sounds strange, but that's the trend.

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#4

Post by Edinburger » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 12:58 PM UTC

I am torn on this. For some folks, this will be a wonderful persistent reminder of the deceased and a place to leave memorial messages. For other folks, it could become an awkward persistent reminder that just makes it hard to grieve and move on.

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#5

Post by scotth » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 12:59 PM UTC

Why would they remove status updates?

I could see myself wanting to go back and read through a deceased friend's online history, just to remember.

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#6

Post by jimbokun » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 1:11 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #3

At first blush, this seems cheesy, but it's the wave of the future. Pieces of dead people are going to persist more and more on the net. The pieces will become more and more interactive and eventually dead people will outnumber living people on the net. Sounds strange, but that's the trend.

It's just hard to get the tone just right. Obviously, they need to handle dead people's pages somehow. But they don't want to look like they are profiting off of it, either. They certainly don't want to seem like they are "memorialising" the deceased just as a way to keep getting ad impressions for someone even after they are gone.

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#7

Post by riklomas » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 1:11 PM UTC

scotth wrote: post #5

Why would they remove status updates? I could see myself wanting to go back and read through a deceased friend's online history, just to remember.

It might not be too pleasant to read the last status updates of someone who was depressed and committed suicide for example

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#8

Post by sp332 » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 1:25 PM UTC

riklomas wrote: post #7

scotth wrote: post #5

Why would they remove status updates? I could see myself wanting to go back and read through a deceased friend's online history, just to remember.

It might not be too pleasant to read the last status updates of someone who was depressed and committed suicide for example

pleasant isn't the point.

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#9

Post by j_baker » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 1:31 PM UTC

This seems really coincidental considering that Mark Zuckerberg got a question about what facebook was doing to preserve our data for the next 2,000 years.

His response was "I like thinking in the long-term, but not that long-term". Anyone else get the impression that this is a compromise?

Re: Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

#10

Post by byrneseyeview » Tue, Oct 27, 2009, 1:36 PM UTC

j_baker wrote: post #9

This seems really coincidental considering that Mark Zuckerberg got a question about what facebook was doing to preserve our data for the next 2,000 years. His response was "I like thinking in the long-term, but not that long-term". Anyone else get the impression that this is a compromise?

I think they've been doing this for a long time: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-08-facebook-vate... . But it's a smart PR move to talk it up after the "next 2000 years" question. (Certainly better than waiting for a tragedy, like last time.)