What Happens to Your Digital Life After You're Gone?

What happens to your online profiles (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, LinkedIn) after you are gone?

At Professional Mojo we specialize in online marketing for businesses who desire results in the ever-changing marketing landscape. We work with hundreds of businesses all across the US and, in the course of that work, we've noticed that business leaders are not making plans for what will happen to their online social networking profiles should they become incapacitated or pass away. What about you? Do you want people reading your Facebook posts, looking at photos and reading your blogs after you are gone?

Whether your profiles are personal or professional in nature and whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a CEO, you SHOULD have a well-written plan for how your online life will be handled and who will do it. Talk to your attorney about how to include this important element in your will or estate planning.

Here are few tips to get you started:

1) Designate someone the executor of your online life: If you were hit by the proverbial bus tomorrow, who has access to your accounts? You should identify someone now who has the digital savvy and will have the presence of mind in a tough time to remove your online content. Be sure to ask him or her about taking on this responsibility and to include this in any legal document created.

2) Audit your online life: Chances are that while you may only use one or two social networking sites regularly, you've set up accounts on many networks and maybe even created profiles and uploaded photos. Make a list of every account you think you have. Do a Google search and see where you find your name listed. Googling yourself regularly is a very good practice anyway.

3) Track down and document the login credentials: Ahhhh, those passwords can be such a pain and a security issue, too. Still, your designated digital helpers can't fulfill your wishes until they can login and access your accounts. Create a secure document that has the account name, URL for login, login name/user, and password. Make sure that the appropriate person(s) know where that document is. Perhaps you put the spreadsheet in your safe deposit box?

4) Be clear about your wishes and what happens with your assets: If you have copious amounts of photos uploaded, blog posts, whitepapers, etc. do you want those removed or do you want them saved and given to someone else? Prioritize the accounts so your digital helper will know which accounts to pull down first and which (if any) are to remain.

5) Understand that people may see things you didn't intend them to see: If you've been secretly chatting with someone on instant messenger or Facebook, those conversations exist somewhere. Everything leaves a digital fingerprint. If you are incapacitated unexpectedly, and you have given your logins to someone, he or she may find things you didn't intend. If you are worried about that, you need to clean up your digital assets now.

No one wants to consider her demise. It's just downright uncomfortable for most of us. Nonetheless, you are doing yourself and your family a disservice if you don't. Your online life is a real reflection of you who are (for better or for worse). At Professional Mojo, we talk about this all the time: perception is reality when it comes to the online world. 

What does your online life say about you?

What will people see when you are gone - and do you care?

Do you have any assets that could be part of your estate?

Who will handle it? What will they do?

There are many questions to consider, so you should start considering them now. Don't wait until it's too late.

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For more information on how Professional Mojo can improve your marketing results, create a better website, create compelling branding or generate exceptional content that grows your business, give us a call locally at 678.561.6656 or visit us online at ProfessionalMojo.com or on Facebook.com/ProfessionalMojo