Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    • Customer & Digital Experience
    • Digital Transformation
    • Data
    • Marketing Management
    • Marketing Operations
    • Performance Marketing
    • Special Reports
    • All Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Performance Marketing » Facebook is killing people, posting erroneous ‘Memorialized Account’ messages

Facebook is killing people, posting erroneous ‘Memorialized Account’ messages

Apparent error is killing off people on Facebook, shifting their accounts to have a "memorial" message.

Danny Sullivan on November 11, 2016 at 3:50 pm | Reading time: 2 minutes

facebook-audience-users-crowd-ss-1920

Facebook may be telling you you’re dead today. It appears to be a bug that’s hitting many accounts, one that we’ve seen first hand.

Below is an example of what I saw when I went to Facebook just a few minutes ago:

facebook killing people

As the top, you can see that it says “Remembering Danny Sullivan,” something that only shows for memorialized accounts. These are accounts that have been preserved on Facebook only after a family member or friend puts in a request that’s been approved.

In other words, Facebook thinks I’m dead. And reports from Twitter are that it thinks many other people are dead. Here are just three of many examples:

Following a difficult #election season, Facebook has killed all of us. pic.twitter.com/jEkXsVgFWP

— Lisa Barone (@LisaBarone) November 11, 2016

My friend is having the worst day.
She just found out from Facebook that she's…well… dead….
(FYI: she's not dead) pic.twitter.com/Hz3oGobTSB

— Karen B (@karenb0716) November 11, 2016

apparently myself + everyone on #facebook is dead. was tuesday really the end of the world?? pic.twitter.com/00sl1QyAUA

— hilary ♡ (@philahila) November 11, 2016

The messages seem to have appeared not just for the account holders but for people who go to their pages. That means people might mistakenly learn from Facebook that someone has died. This includes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

Zuck dead pic.twitter.com/J8y5LbfQBz

— Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) November 11, 2016

However, the bug does not appear to be passing such an alarming message through Facebook’s news feed stream.

The deatheating on Facebook also appears to have been short-lived. Soon after this story was posted, I was back to life, and others reported the same.

We’re checking with Facebook for what’s happening, if anyone is still alive there, and will update as we learn more.

Postscript. Facebook sent this statement:

For a brief period today, a message meant for memorialized profiles was mistakenly posted to other accounts. This was a terrible error that we have now fixed. We are very sorry that this happened and we worked as quickly as possible to fix it.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    Work in Progress Limits: Getting started with the Agile Marketing Navigator
    Amazon decision to use Nielsen is big boost for beleaguered rating service
    TransUnion partners with Canvas Worldwide to boost omnichannel CX
    A new way to find the tech talent you need 
    The only two things that matter in marketing

About The Author

Danny Sullivan
Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Related Topics

Performance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The MarTech Conference logo.

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Training Now: Master Classes

Start Discovering Now: Spring



The SMX Conference logo.

Start Training Now:: SMX Advanced

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes

Webinars

Tracking Growth From Organic Search

Beyond the Buzzword: Transform Digitally to Drive Organic & SEO Growth

Leap or Linger: Determining Which Ad Platforms to Test for Your B2B Brand

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise Marketing Performance Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Account-Based Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
Featured White Paper

The CMO’s Formula To 3x Your Digital Marketing Campaign Results

See More Whitepapers
Search Our Site

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.