ST. LOUIS (AP) ― A grieving father‘s personal appeal to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has prompted the social network to release a retrospective video tribute of the man’s deceased 21-year-old son.
John Berlin, 46, of suburban St. Louis posted a YouTube message to Zuckerberg on Wednesday seeking a copy of Facebook’s new “look back” video feature for his late son, Jesse, who died in his sleep in January 2012 of unknown causes.
The automated tool creates a 62-second video using photos and comments previously posted by Facebook users. The YouTube plea has since drawn more than 1.25 million views.
“You ever do something crazy ’cause you just don’t know what to do anymore?” a tearful Berlin said in the YouTube plea. “Well, that’s what I’m doing right now.”
Facebook typically disables the accounts of people who have died. But the company said in a statement Thursday that it granted Berlin‘s request and suggested Facebook might alter its policies on information posted by users who later died.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
