When Real Death Comes to Virtual Life – Part 1

It has been one hell of a week+ for me emotionally: four people whose lives have touched mine in various ways died in the space of ten days. Three of those used social media (mostly Twitter and Facebook), and that is how most of their friends have learned of their passing – and we learned of the fourth via the mailing list of a group of which he was a part.

It would take a much longer series of posts than I currently have the time or energy to compose to cover all of the ways social media users and their friends/family need to consider handling their digital assets and communities when the user dies. But for now I will note some specific technical tips for when (not if, increasingly) you find yourself mourning the loss of a loved one and are left with how to communicate about their departure with their social media friends.

[Note: I originally planned to cover both Twitter and Facebook in this article, but it’s already lengthy about Twitter so I will do a Part 2 about Facebook later]

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What’s That Event?

When you create an event on Facebook, presumably you

  1. Want people to pay attention and attend, plus
  2. Want others to know that their friends are attending so they might consider it as well.

But failing to title your event in a specific way may sabotage its visibility!

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Beware the Facebook Event Time Bug!

In most parts of the United States this weekend is the start of Daylight Saving Time – at 2:00AM this Sunday morning clocks are set to 3:00AM, until late next Fall.

Unfortunately, if you have created a Facebook event that is happening this Sunday and you are in a DST-using location, Facebook’s coding is going to mess mightily with the displayed event time, as it gets confused between you creating the event in Standard Time yet the event is in DST.

What happens is:

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Why You Should Literally Schedule Your Time

A friend just called me in a panic. We had scheduled (some time ago) a performance event at her house to happen one evening next week. But she came into her newish job this morning to find that they expected her to attend an evening board meeting at that time! She was both irritated by the work requirement – though she knew the job would not always be 9-5 she felt like she had no control over her personal time due to this conflict – and guilty/concerned about messing up the performance. What should she do about it all?

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