Is Facebook in Your Will?

By now, you’ve probably experienced the loss of a friend or loved one with a Facebook account – or know someone who has.

An estimated 30 million Facebook accounts belong to dead people, according to a report by the Huffington Post.

“A few years ago, when a person expired, their prized possessions, memories in the form of photos, letters, diaries, journals and important documents could all be found around the house,” says TeliApp Corporation marketing analyst Priya Mohan. “Today, as almost all [it is] online in password protected sites.”

Emails, blogs, photos and any other form of text, media or multimedia the deceased has rights to are assets that, now, must be included in estate planning, Mohan tells PINK.

For those generating income from YouTube channels or photography with Picasa, it’s particularly important.

Estate planning attorney Joshua Keleske recommends clients maintain an online safe deposit box with the usernames and passwords to all of their social media accounts.

Google recently launched the Inactive Account Manager, which allows users to tell Google what to do with their accounts should the unthinkable happen. Data can be deleted after a period of time or distributed to specific people.

Keleske suggests adding a special section to your will outlining the rules and permissions of who should receive your data.

And, even more importantly, he says, “Select a technology-savvy personal representative (or executor) who understands how to maintain and transfer digital assets.”

Bonus PINK Link: Read how Gen X is coping as the New Sandwich Generation.

Are your digital assets protected?

By L. Nicole Williams

Nicole is the Editor at Little PINK Book. Follow her on Twitter @iamnicwill.

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” Diane Ackerman