What to do when you see dead people on Facebook

"We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it's important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized," Kelly wrote in his blog post.

It isn't usually the case that a Facebook member's passing is publicly chronicled, as happened when aspiring model Paul Zolezzi left a suicide note on his Facebook profile this past February. So it's important that friends and family contact Facebook to request that a dead friend or relative's profile be memorialized.

When a Facebook profile is memorialized, its privacy settings are modified so that only confirmed friends can search for or see the profile. Certain sensitive information, such as contact information and status updates, is removed, and login is disabled, but friends can continue to post memorials and tributes to the deceased user's Wall.

The practice of memorializing, which Facebook actually implemented nearly four years ago when a co-worker of Kelly's died tragically six months after both started working for the popular social networking site, helps protect the dead from digital voyeurism of the kind that afflicted MySpace profiles in that site's heyday, when some blogs specialized in matching MySpace profiles with death notices and publicly displaying both. The policy strikes an elegant balance between the need to protect the privacy and honor of the deceased and the desire for the living to keep their memory alive.

Written by Sandy Smith
Exclusive to HULIQ.com