You can’t be in two places at the same time… but with social networks that’s not exactly true anymore, in fact, you can be in several places at once, but what happens when “You 1.0” no longer exists, what happens to “You 2.0” when you shuffle off this world for the next (if that’s your belief). The majority of social networks don’t address this issue, in fact they try not to think about it, as it’s a lot of hassle for them, but it’s something you should seriously think about, not for you, as let’s face it, unless you’re a Buddhist & you’re going to log into your account again in 20 years time with a strange sense of deja vu, it’s not something that’s going to affect you directly, but it’s something that will affect your friends & loved ones, in both a negative & a positive way.
Having your images & your words spread out across the web as a constant reminder of You 1.0, could be a nice momento, but on the flip side it could be a continual reminder that you’re gone. As morbid as it may sound, it’s worth considering now, when you have the opportunity to think about what happens to You 2.0 when you’ve moved on, and not just your online social networks like Facebook & your blogs etc, but your online bank accounts, utilities, subscriptions etc without those passwords locked away in your head or on your computer’s password keychain, how do your loved ones access, alter or cancel these facilities.
We all know the loops & hoops we have to jump through ourselves and how we feel as though we’ve been treated as suspected criminals when we forget our own passwords or log in details for some online service, imagine what it’s going to be like for a loved one to try logging into one of your accounts with nothing more than your name!
As I say, Your ID Matters, but when you’re gone it may matter even more!