Say what you like about Facebook, but I know that I, as well as countless others, find out a plethora of information about my friends via that social networking site. One of the most exciting Facebook updates a friend can make is a change to their relationship status. Whenever a friend enters or ends a relationship and makes that change to their relationship status on Facebook¹, there is bound to be endless speculation and gossip about the circumstances of the beginning or demise of that relationship.

I was talking to one of my friends the other day, she asked if I knew whether or not two of our friends were in a serious relationship, or if they were just friends with benefits. I told her I didn’t know as I hadn’t heard anything, and she said, “Well, I checked on Facebook, and their relationship statuses both say single, so they’re definitely not official yet.” I laughed as I heard this, because it made me think of the saying, “It’s not official till it’s on Facebook!” when talking about whether a relationship is serious or not. In some respects, it’s a load of crap, but in other respects, it’s incredibly true. One of the signs of a serious relationship is when you are able to come forward and publicly claim, “Yes, so-and-so is my boyfriend/girlfriend,” and it marks a change from the initial flirting and getting to know each other to becoming a little more serious around each other. Committing to a relationship with each other on Facebook is a sign, even if it is only a minor one, that both parties in the relationship are going to make the extra effort to be that official boyfriend/girlfriend rather than two that simply hang out and mess around whenever it’s convenient.

As much as that logic makes sense, it makes me a little sad because if I follow the theory of a relationship not being official until it gos on Facebook, then I’ve never been in an official relationship. I don’t need Facebook to tell me that though, for one reason or another all of my liaisons have been more complicated than the standard relationship and the right time to “announce” the relationship publicly has never arisen. Still, I find it very amusing, for lack of better term, whenever one of my friends puts their relationship on Facebook because it shows that there is hopefully a future for the relationship, and as long as my friends are happy with the new relationship, then I’m happy for them.

1. There are seven options that you can set your relationship status to: blank (remove the relationship status altogether), single, in a relationship, engaged, married, it’s complicated, and in an open relationship. [↩]

Tags: facebook