Your most important human relationship, or lack of one, is, for better or worse, a defining sociological characteristic. Single? In a relationship? If you're somewhere in between ... well, that can cause problems these days. You know. Facebook problems. Because, let's be real: You can be single and in a relationship and wanting to let people know that it's complicated, too. We know such people. We think they possibly overshare, but we're not judging. "It's complicated" ... that's really sort of an existential, all-encompassing statement even for married people, right?
Well, as of yesterday, Facebook has made itself a little more LGBT-friendly, adding two new relationship categories for self-labeling. Members can now choose to say they are "in a civil union" or "in a domestic partnership," and if you're in one of those and want all your Facebook friends or even the whole world to know, it's time to go adjust your relationship status.
We're just a little worried, because we have observed that the whole "relationship status" thing sometimes ... overpublicizes ... the underlying personal relationship. Even Time magazine figured that out. If Facebook has trivialized friendship (it has, in some ways) ... is it or could it do the same thing to relationships?
Don't get us wrong--we think it is great that Facebook has recognized, as best as it can, that civil unions and domestic partnerships are valid kinds of relationships, equal and side-by-side with "married" and "In a relationship" and "single" and "It's complicated," etc. But we're also thinking ... maybe the next thing Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook Overlords ought to consider is a ... roll-your-own option, you know? For those who don't want to leave the space blank, yet have something to say for themselves.
Well, as of yesterday, Facebook has made itself a little more LGBT-friendly, adding two new relationship categories for self-labeling. Members can now choose to say they are "in a civil union" or "in a domestic partnership," and if you're in one of those and want all your Facebook friends or even the whole world to know, it's time to go adjust your relationship status.
We're just a little worried, because we have observed that the whole "relationship status" thing sometimes ... overpublicizes ... the underlying personal relationship. Even Time magazine figured that out. If Facebook has trivialized friendship (it has, in some ways) ... is it or could it do the same thing to relationships?
Don't get us wrong--we think it is great that Facebook has recognized, as best as it can, that civil unions and domestic partnerships are valid kinds of relationships, equal and side-by-side with "married" and "In a relationship" and "single" and "It's complicated," etc. But we're also thinking ... maybe the next thing Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook Overlords ought to consider is a ... roll-your-own option, you know? For those who don't want to leave the space blank, yet have something to say for themselves.
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