As the social media capital of the world, the Philippines is home to millions of accounts in Facebook – some of which are accounts of individuals who have since passed on. Facebook has since started the feature to ‘memorialize’ the accounts of their deceased members and continues to update their AI to avoid functions that may upset their users.
In a statement by Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, she said that new Facebook features will soon include a ‘tribute section’ for friends who leave lovely messages at memorialized accounts; additional controls for those who managed these, as well as improved AI capabilities to avoid online scenarios that might trigger painful memories like inviting a dead friend to an event, or wishing happy birthday to a dear family relative who is already dead.
“These changes are the result of feedback we heard from people of different religions and cultural backgrounds as well as experts and academics. We’re grateful to them for helping us understand how we can build more tools to help people find comfort in times of grief,” said Sandberg.
Facebook’s aim is for their new tributes section to be a place where their active users can remember their loved ones in a good light. “Over 30 million people view memorialized profiles every month to post stories, commemorate milestones and remember those who have passed away. The new tributes section expands on this, creating a separate tab on memorialized profiles where friends and family can share posts — all while preserving the original timeline of their loved one. This lets people see the types of posts that are most helpful to them as they grieve and remember their loved ones,” adds Sandberg.
