What Happens to Your Twitter Account When You Die?

Twitter has just established a policy for handling the accounts of deceased users.
Just as Facebook allows users to request that an account be deleted or memorialized when a friend or loved one has passed on, Twitter users can now get in touch with administrators at the company to either completely delete the account or obtain a permanent backup of the deceased user’s public tweets.
Accounts of deceased users will no longer appear in the “Who to Follow” suggestions box. We don’t currently know whether you will be able to follow or even view a saved account of a deceased person on Twitter in the future, or whether there will be any distinguishing feature alerting you to the fact that the user had passed on. Currently, the accounts of deceased users look exactly the same as those of living users and can be followed and listed. We’ve contacted Twitter for details and are waiting to hear back from them.
Both Twitter and Facebook ask that the deceased user’s surviving family members submit a link to an obituary, along with information about their relationship to the deceased, before the account is deleted or backed up.
Twitter also advises, “Please note that we cannot allow access to the account or disclose other non-public information regarding the account.” Family members or friends who wish to post last messages to the account must obtain the login credentials or other means of access to the account (such as through the deceased’s mobile phone) for themselves.
You can read more about the policy at the Twitter help page.