Inheritance does not only take the form of physical property but can also exist digitally, which people commonly call a digital legacy. There are many types of digital legacy, and one of the most common is social media. To learn more about this kind of legacy, read this article to the end!
Definition of a Digital Legacy
A digital legacy is the representation of your inheritance in the digital world, which includes email accounts, posts, and content on social media. Such a legacy is valuable both for the person who has passed away and for the loved ones they leave behind.
For the deceased, it can be a great help in making sure their photos, videos, or personal documents are not misused by others. For those left behind, it can provide cherished memories and personal records of the person who has passed away.
Examples of digital assets you can pass on include email accounts, online financial accounts, online businesses, PayPal accounts, websites, social media accounts, domains that can be bought and sold, intellectual property, video games, and virtual worlds. In short, any valuable digital item can be part of your legacy.
6 Ways to Manage a Digital Legacy
Here are some ways to manage your digital legacy that you can follow:
1. Designate a Contact for Passwords
To manage your accounts as part of your legacy, you can designate a contact person for your passwords. This serves as a precaution in case you forget your passwords or update contact information for your email. For this, you can use a password manager.
2. Designate a Contact to Inherit Online Accounts
Beyond naming a contact for your passwords, you can also name someone to inherit your online accounts, especially those based in the cloud. In this case, you also need to let the person designated for this know about it.
That way, should anything bad happen, they can retrieve important photos or documents stored in your account. It is also wise to choose someone you trust, so your personal documents or files are not misused.
3. Inform Family and Relatives
It is not enough to simply list someone's contact in your email. You should also inform your family or relatives about it.
This serves as a safeguard in case that contact is no longer usable. However, make sure the family members or relatives you name are people you truly trust.
4. Protect Your Assets
When managing your digital legacy, you also need to protect those assets as a precaution. Here is how to protect your legacy across various platform:
A. Facebook
To protect a Facebook account, you can fill in an account memorialization or removal form, submitted by family members or friends after the account owner has passed away. Alternatively, you can adjust the privacy settings on Facebook to help protect your account.
B. Twitter
If you have a Twitter account, you can have it closed for a deceased person. Twitter provides an option to deactivate accounts and archive public tweets for people who have passed away.
However, the request must come from a verified immediate family member with proper authority. So it's a good idea to register an immediate family member on your Twitter account now, as an initial step in preserving this digital legacy.
C. Google
Google offers a feature called "Inactive Account Manager," which lets you set up the transfer of ownership and control of an inactive account to another trusted user. This trusted user can be a relative or someone you trust.
Google, together with your family, can work to close the account of a user who has passed away. In some cases, Google may also provide the contents of a deceased user's account to the family, where possible.
D. MySpace
MySpace can also delete the profile of a user who has passed away, if a family member or heir gives permission. MySpace provides this option, and the process is almost the same as on other platform s.
Beyond that, MySpace can also help you create a memorial to honor the deceased user, which helps ensure that the account of a deceased user is properly protected.
E. Email
For Gmail accounts, you don't need to worry, because Gmail and Hotmail allow access to the email account of a deceased person if certain requirements are met.
F. Dropbox
For Dropbox users, you don't need to worry, because platform has a specific policy regarding the accounts of people who have passed away. Dropbox accounts that are inactive for 90 days after the last login are automatically deleted.
5. Back Up Your Data
Beyond the methods above, users can also back up their data starting now, especially if they want to preserve important photos or videos.
In this case, you can back up all your documents and perhaps even your social media password s on a hard drive or similar storage. That way, if the user passes away, they still leave a digital legacy for the family they leave behind.
6. Review Old Contacts Every Few Years
Backing up contacts to access your account after you pass away is not enough on its own. You also need to review your contacts every few years.
This matters because some people often change their phone numbers. So it's a good idea to set up and review this contact information every month.
Do You Know What a Digital Legacy Is?
A digital legacy is very important to consider, especially if your account holds many important things, such as photos, financial records, and similar items. For this reason, you should also consider making a will as another precaution, in case the earlier methods don't work.
You can also make plans for your funeral as a way of preparing for the future. A funeral service such as Kamboja is one option for funeral services. best, with a wide range of unique burial options and choices from various countries.
Contact Kamboja's team to get more complete information and discuss your needs with one of our Kamboja team members.
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The Kamboja team writes guides on bereavement, funeral arrangements and funeral planning to help families in Indonesia.
