One Missouri father made a customer service request Facebook simply couldn’t ignore.
It's inspired by the Look Back videos you’ve no doubt seen filling your timelines. (Via Facebook)
John Berlin posted his own video to YouTube, asking Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook to let him access his son’s “Look Back” video. (Via YouTube / John Berlin)
His son, Jesse Berlin, died two years ago. The family doesn’t have access to his account.
“All we want to do is see his movie, that’s it. I don’t even need to get on his account. If you guys could … ” (Via YouTube / John Berlin)
Sites across the Web have watched the video, many calling it “heartbreaking.” (Via Gawker, The Daily Dot)
Reddit users quickly promoted the plea, and some reportedly even suggested ways Berlin might hack into his son’s account.
But, of course, that’s not the point. Instead, the promotion helped the 90-second video go viral. And yes, it did make it to Facebook.
PIX11 contacted Facebook officials, who said they’d seen it but were having trouble reaching Berlin.
But the company soon got ahold of him, and he took to the social network to report the news. (Via Facebook)
“It worked I was just contacted by FB by phone and there [sic] going to make a vid just for us. They also said they're going to look at how they can better help families who have lost loved ones.” (Via Facebook)
How to handle someone’s profile after they’ve died is a topic that’s been discussed before. In 2009, it hit home at Facebook.
A Facebook engineer died in a bicycle accident, and a friend and co-worker at the time posted, “The question soon came up: What do we do about his Facebook profile? We had never really thought about this before in such a personal way.”
So the option to “memorialize” a Facebook account came up. Essentially, it leaves the account up but removes reminders other users might receive, like one saying it’s that person’s birthday.
As for what else might change because of Berlin’s request, Facebook hasn’t said.
