Ever worry about what will happen to your social accounts if, one day, you suddenly bite the dust? Well, now you don’t have to.Rather than let your Facebook and Twitter profiles sit unused forever, DeadSocial, a U.K. startup that launched in beta on April 27 at The Next Web Conference 2012, will put your social networking accounts to good use even after you’re six feet under.
You can link your DeadSocial account to to your Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts and write messages to loved ones and friends to be sent out at given times after your death — days, months, even years after you’ve passed. A “super administrator,” or a person you’ve chosen to access DeadSocial in the event of your death, can “untick” your account to indicate you’ve died; now your pre-written messages can be sent out, according to The Next Web.
As shown in the photo below, a DeadSocial profile shares many features with typical social sites: There’s a box to share statuses, an “About Me” section and different tabs to view friends, groups, photos, videos and more. According to the site, a series of tutorials, sure to explain the ins and outs of using DeadSocial, will be coming soon.
While it seems to be the first social network to focus on the afterlife, DeadSocial is certainly not the first service to address the problem of what happens to digital property after one’s death, an issue that has yet to be settled legally in many states.
In fact, as Mashable reported earlier this year, only fives states — Oklahoma, Idaho, Rhode Island, Indiana and Connecticut — have laws addressing how digital assets should be managed after death.
According to Mashable, lawmakers are attempting to create a uniform law to address the problem through the formation of a committee by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC). According to the ULC, this committee will make recommendations to states on what kind of authority and access a fiduciary of digital information will have after a person dies.
ReadWriteWeb reports that Nebraska lawmakers are considering legislation that would give “representatives legal possession of Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other online information.” In other words, the deceased’s social accounts and login information “could become a standard part of [his or her] digital will.”
Check out the video (above) to learn more about DeadSocial. What do you think of this new online platform? Would you use it? Let us know in the comments!
