Do You Have a Social Media Will?

Have you thought about what will happen to your social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), your paypal account, etc. when you die? You may have executed a written Will to take care of your home and other assets, but what about your online assets? For more food for thought, go to The Hot Button Blog.

Yes, There is an App for That

Facebook now has an application (commonly referred to as an "app") called "If I Die" that allows a user to post a final message on his or her Facebook wall when the user dies. A user selects three "trustees" who are Facebook friends that will verify the death of the user. After the trustees confirm the user’s death, Facebook posts the user’s "If I Die" message. Eran Alfonta, the app’s co-founder, said the app was created because "[w]e all have things to say and don’t necessarily have the audience with the patience to hear us. Actually we all want to leave something behind, we all want to leave a stamp behind us." For now, the app posts the "If I Die" message on the user’s public profile page, but the creators are working on changes to the app which will give users the ability to send non-public messages, even to non-Facebook users. The number of app users is expected to hit 100,000 within a couple of months.
　
See If I Die: Facebook App Lets You Leave Sweet Last Words, Mashable Social Media, Jan. 6, 2012.