Facebook lets people leave their marks online after they have shuffled off their mortal coils, with profiles of the dead remaining as tributes in the global social networking community.

"When someone leaves us, they don't leave our memories or our social network," Facebook director of security Max Kelly said in a blog post on Monday.

"To reflect that reality, we created the idea of 'memorialised' profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who've passed."

Profiles of dead people do not turn up in friend recommendations or general searches at Facebook, according to Kelly. Privacy settings on memorialised accounts only let confirmed friends or family members see them.

No one is allowed to log into memorialised accounts, preventing alteration of profile content, but friends can still post remembrance messages that are displayed on "walls" for visitors to see.

Contact information and status updates are removed from memorialised profile pages.

Only friends or relatives of deceased Facebook members can request profiles be memorialised, and information submitted must include a copy of an obituary, news article or other proof of death.

"If you have a friend or a family member whose profile should be memorialised, please contact us, so their memory can properly live on among their friends on Facebook," Kelly said.

The service is not new to Facebook, but it reminded members of it this week.

AFP

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