pronouns - Can "his/her" be replaced by "his"?

Yesterday, I asked this question on Web Apps:

If a Facebook user dies, what happens
to the account?

Actually, I wanted to ask it this way:

If a Facebook user dies, what happens

to his/her account?

I chose the easy way and used the instead of his/her. Could I use just his in this case?:

If a Facebook user dies, what happens
to his account?

What would you recommend for similar cases? Which pronoun is more appropriate to be used?

Answer

You can use the singular “their”: “what happens to their account”.

While is was regarded with rather less than more favorability in the past by style guides, it is gender-neutral and, as such, regains popularity.