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When a member of my sorority passed away in a terrible car accident last year, I was saddened by the news, and it was heartwarming to read the prayers and RIPs posted all over her Facebook wall but best friends and acquaintances alike. For the following two days, every update on my mini-feed included her name on it, but when I saw that one update was actually a status update, I was skeptical and freaked out, to say the least. Obviously, I quickly clicked into her page and saw that her status had recently been updated (no doubt by her parents or siblings) to include information about her memorial service and funeral.

According to this blog post and several others,  the Facebook Death Policy allows a deceased person’s Facebook to be “memorialized”, taking away status updates and the option to add them as a friend. So, given this information, it is clear that my Theta sister had previously given someone close to her the password to her account. Was this going to far on her parent/sibling/friend’s end to update her status? Or was it an effective use of social media to reach out to her friends and loved ones in a quick and easy way?

In my opinion, while a good idea in theory, it hits too close to home and startles people to see a deceased person’s profile being updated, and I find it a bit disrespectful. Even if the login info has been left behind, I think the best bet is to leave the profile in the memorialized state, rather than request to delete the account permanently, (another option). This way, people can pay their respects, reminisce through their pictures and remember their friend every time they think about them. 

Then we look back to some not-so-serious, yet still extreme uses of social media. First of all, how about that couple that updated their Facebook relationship statuses at the altar? Now where’s the romance in that “special day”? If Facebook is in the forfront of your mind as you look into that special someone’s eyes and run through your vows over and over in preparation for one of the biggest days of your life…. well, I just don’t know what to say. 

And what about the man that proposed over Twitter? Can his significant other really say she was speechless, astounded and teary-eyed when she looked at her @replies and saw that special message? 

Though extreme cases, this really shows the overwhelming importance of social media in some people’s lives. The romanticism and importance seems to have been ripped away from milestones like engagements, wedding days and even death, and it seems that we have social media to thank for this. 

So I’d like your input in this. Do you think social media is being inappropriately used in some cases? And how far is too far?

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