My grandmother passed away about three years ago. Since then people post on her wall on her birthday – those who knew her often post sweet memories and those who didn’t wish her a great day. This year I finally set it to a memorial page. It still looks similar, except it says Remembering by her name. People can still share memories of her on her wall or tag her in photos but her friends won’t be reminded it’s her birthday and she won’t be recommended as a friend to those she isn’t already linked up with. There’s a Tributes section in her timeline though, which is far more appropriate.
Proactively, we can request our account be deleted if we pass away by navigating to Settings & Privacy -> Settings -> General Profile Settings -> Click Edit for Memorialization Settings -> click Request that your account be deleted after you pass away and click Delete After Death. The Memorialization Settings screen also allows for a person to be named who can post on behalf of the deceased.
Reactively, to set a Facebook account as a memorial, first grab a link to the profile. That’s as simple as grabbing the URL when you click on their name. Also grab a screenshot of the obituary. This is usually on the website of the funeral home or local paper.
Then, click on the ellipse in the menu bar while viewing their profile.
Click “Find support or report”.
At the Report box, click “Something else”
Click “Memorialize this account”
You’ll then be taken to the Memorialization Request screen. Provide the date they passed and a screenshot of the obituary and the process should take about 24-48 hours to complete.
Most Facebook screens and options change fairly routinely. These have been pretty static but this article was written in September of 2022 and if they change please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll update the article.