Zuckerberg among Facebook users mistakenly declared ‘dead’

Facebook accidentally declared its founder
Mark Zuckerberg and many other users
dead on Friday, acknowledging after fixing
the problem that it had committed a
“terrible error.”
“For a brief period today, a message meant
for memorialized profiles was mistakenly
posted to other accounts,” a Facebook
spokesperson told AFP.
“This was a terrible error that we have now
fixed.”
Media reports indicated that some two
million errant memorials were posted on
profile pages.
Even Facebook co-founder and chief
executive Zuckerberg was memorialized in
a message at his profile page expressing
hope that people who loved him would take
comfort in posts people shared in tribute to
his life.
“Poor Mark,” read an @JudiD23 tweet that
included weeping face emojis.
“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
The social network apologized and said it
worked as quickly as possible to correct the
problem.
“Damn. I should have used Facebook Live
to show how I was Facebook Dead,” Search
Engine Land editor Danny Sullivan said in a
message fired off at Twitter.
Facebook Live feature lets people broadcast
video in real-time at the leading social
network.
The mistaken memorial notices contained
links to forms that can be submitted to have
people’s accounts at the leading social
network modified into online memorials
after they die.
Part of the process is showing proof of
death.
Some wondered whether the mishap was a
botched test promotion of the feature,
rather than a software glitch.

#FacebookDead –
Comments tagged #FacebookDead or
#FacebookRapture went viral at Twitter,
with people joking that the scenario
marked a fitting end to tumultuous week.
“I think this is Facebook’s way of flagging
the people who died inside on Tuesday,”
read a tweet from @billkalpak.
A darkly humorous post on Twitter by
@JnPhillip was in the form of a note
reading “Dear Facebook, Donald Trump
does not get inaugurated until January
20th. Nuclear annihilation occurs Jan. 21st.”
“Naturally, Facebook waited until 2016 to
kill us all,” tweeted @kriheli.
Some quipped that the mistake shook
confidence in Facebook’s feature for
checking on people after disasters, or its
claim that hoax stories are not a worry at
the social network.
A not-dead-yet Zuckerberg defended the
integrity of News Feed stories duing an on-
stage chat at a Techonomy conference in
California the night before being
memorialized on his profile page.
Zuckerberg rejected the idea that bogus
stories shared at the social network paved a
path of victory for President-elect Trump.
“The idea that fake news on Facebook,
which is a very small amount of the
content, influenced the election in any way
I think is a pretty crazy idea,” Zuckerberg
said during an on-stage chat at the
conference.
The News Feed at Facebook has evolved
from early days of being about sharing
personal tidbits with friends or family to
becoming a platform for important news.