Facebook - blurring the line between the real and the virtual

In an interesting move today, Facebook announced that they would allow the profiles of the recently deceased to be preserved as a mark of respect. It's a solution to a fairly common problem; a dead user cannot physically delete their account and Facebook's social updates system often continually churns out updates about the dead person. This can exacerbate the grief to family and friends whilst they wait for Facebook to certify the user officially dead, a process which can take some time.

Facebook head of security Max Kelly explained the change; "When someone leaves us, they don't leave our memories or our social network. To reflect that reality, we created the idea of "memorialised" profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who've passed." Profiles will be administered by trusted friends and updates will not show in the news feed or the suggestions area.

It also says a lot about how social networks have become part of our culture. We're used to the image of the pale loner living their live on the internet, but even to the common man, Facebook profiles have become so integrated into life that they play a primary role in interaction and expression. They've become part of us; visiting a Facebook profile page is almost like meeting someone in person. As such, with the lists of interests, favourite TV programmes and various photos a Facebook profile could be a very worthy memorial.

I guess we'll have to see if it takes of or not; either way, it's symptomatic over Facebook's prevalence in our lives and things are only going to get more involved as time moves on.

Original article can be found on the BBC Website.