For some, 2014 happened to be a year marked by tragedy.
One father, Eric Meyer, was upset after his “Year in Review” featured images of his deceased daughter who had died on her sixth birthday earlier in the year.
Eric published a blog post in which he addressed the Facebook feature that might not be catered to those who are in the process of grieving:
“For those of us who lived through the death of loved ones, or spent extended time in the hospital, or were hit by divorce or losing a job or any one of a hundred crises, we might not want another look at this past year… To show me Rebecca’s face and say ‘Here’s what your year looked like!’ is jarring… it feels wrong, and coming from an actual person, it would be wrong.”
Since Eric’s post, Jonathan Gheller, the product manager for Facebook “Year in Review” reached out to apologize:
“(The app) was awesome for a lot of people, but clearly in this case we brought him grief rather than joy… It’s valuable feedback. We can do better — I’m very grateful he took the time in his grief to write the blog post.”
Eric has since responded to Jonathan’s apology in a blog post entitled “Well, That Escalated Quickly.”
Here’s what he had to say:
“So the first thing I want to say: I owe the Year in Review team in specific, and Facebook in general, an apology. No, not the other way around. I am very sorry that I dropped the Internet on (Gheller’s head) for Christmas. He and his team didn’t deserve it.”
Our hearts go out to Eric and his family during this tough time.
