Ironically, despite knowing more about more people than anyone or anything in history, the social network heavyweight struggles to pinpoint when one of its users has died.

It is a situation that the site is scrabbling to correct after upset users complained of receiving messages from friends and loved ones from beyond the grave.

These are no resurrections however but merely the product of automated messages generated by the sites social algorithms suggesting inactive friends “get back in touch.”

Automating the process of filtering dead users from their livelier counterparts is fraught with difficulty, not least because quick fix solutions such as an ‘Are they dead’ button opens the door to mischief making.

No one knows precisely how many Facebook users have passed on but a recent survey suggested the figure could be as much as 3.2%. As the networks demographics age in line with society that trend is only going to become more pronounced but there are no easily identifiable solutions.

Initially Facebook simply erased the profiles of users who had passed away but it now recognises the importance memorialising such records to aid an online mourning process.

Users interested in converting such pages must fill out a form on the site and provide proof of death for review by a member of Facebook’s team.