I keep bumping into dead friends on social media.
A friend and colleague who died three years ago is still on Facebook. Linkedin is asking me to endorse the many talents of another friend who died at Christmas.
Social media is young but it will soon become populated by an army of the undead.
A few years ago it was very difficult to close a deceased person’s account as anyone trying had to deal with international companies. There are no borders and no universal jurisdiction on the web.
Things have improved. Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin all have online forms.
Facebook requires a link to an obit or news story. If satisfied, the account will be frozen or, in Facebook-speak, “Memorialized”.
Twitter requires a death certificate plus ID for the requester to be mailed or faxed to a San Francisco address.
So it is possible to lay our cyberdead to rest and this will certainly become more common. But with bereaved relatives and friends trying to manage bank accounts, property and all the other elements of a person’s life, social media is not likely to be high on the list.
There will be many ghosts in the machine.
Sad to see the storms have bitten a big chunk out of Brighton’s ruined West Pier.
A regular press of photographers have been shuffling around on the gravel beach in search of the best photo op as beachcombers sift the tons of bits and pieces thrown up by the waves.
Only a matter of time before this city icon crumbles into the water.
It’s the end of the pier show.
Monday is the 150th anniversary of the birth of journalist and bush poet Banjo Paterson. All together now, “Waltzing Ma…”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwvazMc5EfE
www.facebook.com/DannyLancasterInvestigates
@williamjtodd
Remembering Barbara – www.barbaragubbins.co.uk