Facebook's New Legacy Contact Feature Is, Unfortunately, Completely Necessary

Dying is probably not something you want to think about, like ever, but Facebook is going to make you do it anyway. The social media platform just unveiled its legacy contact feature — it gives users the ability to choose a family member or friend to manage their account when they pass away. Once that person notifies Facebook that the user has died, the account will be memorialized.

As a legacy contact, that person will be able to write a post to display at the top of the memorialized timeline, respond to new friend requests from family members and friends who weren't connected on Facebook, and update the profile picture and cover photo. You can even give your legacy contact permission to download an archive of the photos, posts, and profile information you once shared on Facebook.

If you're not into the idea of having a legacy contact, you can also tell Facebook that you would like to have your account permanently deleted after passing away. Although it's a little morbid to consider, it's good to know that the new option is out there.