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Facebook Wants You to Reconnect: With Dead Loved Ones

After logging in recently, I peeked at the ubiquitous "suggestions" box on the right side of the screen, only to see that Facebook had asked me to "reconnect"...with a dead friend.
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Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
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When a favorite site rolls out a new feature, users are supposed to ooh and ahh, not cringe. One of Facebook's latest features has me doing just that. After logging in recently, I peeked at the ubiquitous "suggestions" box on the right side of the screen, only to see that Facebook had asked me to "reconnect"...with a dead friend.

The feature is apparently intended to remind users to comment on the walls of users with whom they haven't recently been in touch (on Facebook, anyway). So far, however, it has succeeded only in creeping out the users it intended to "help." Some users' experiences have been mildly amusing, such as that of gsorenson, who tweeted, "Facebook just suggested that I reconnect with my dad." Other users, such as Twitter user exohcaroline, have received much more cryptic-seeming messages, suggesting they reconnect with friends or loved ones who have passed on. On Twitter, she said:

Speaking to a number of friends about the latest Facebook tweak, the overarching sentiment was sheer annoyance. I, for one, am sick of Facebook fixing things which aren't broken while features which actually need improvement (such as the standard photo uploader) are left in the dust.

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