Facebook lets people leave their marks online after they have passed away, 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 yesterday.

"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."

Privacy settings on memorialised accounts only let confirmed friends or family members see them.