Friday, 16 November 2012

I love you and I want the whole world to know it.

Couples, eh?


Are you, like me, one of those bitter, lonely people that just hates seeing other people talk about their relationships on Facebook? Because if you are things are about to get a whole lot more nauseating. The other day the social media king launched 'Relationship Pages' offering couples who have declared their love for each other on the site the opportunity to show just how much they care with a merged profile. And of course, when I say 'offering' I mean 'forcing,' as there is currently no option to say no to the change if you don't want one. The way the page works is a bit like the 'see friendship' option that you get whenever you look at one of your friend's profiles. However, unlike that option, the new pages are made far more prominent. When viewing someones profile, if they're in a cute little couple, their relationship status is highlighted blue allowing you to click on it and go straight to a page dedicated to just how much they fancy one another.

Here's a little run down of what you can see. It's a bit creepy and for a change it's not just me adding that in:

- All of the wall posts they have ever shared with one another.

- All of the pictures they have ever been tagged together in.

- All of the events they have ever been too.

- All of their mutual friends.

- All of their mutual likes.

And when I say 'all' that's exactly what I mean. I've been back to the very beginning of a relationship one of my friends is in just to prove this point. You can see every sloppy message, every overly public argument and every picture of them looking slightly awkward together. While you might argue that if such couples are going to put this sort of stuff online in the first place they ought to expect people to see it, you could also say that it's a weirdly perverted invasion of their privacy. After all, a wall post is hardly ever looked at by someone else and the only way you normally see their tagged pictures is if you're feeling particularly nosy (which I am, often. You look hot in that dress. It's a shame how things worked out, can we not try again?)

This whole thing wouldn't be that terrible, and might actually be quite nice for the couple, if there was an option to make it private. At the moment such a choice is not available and so everyone can see whatever they want at just the click of a mouse.

Is it romantic to show off your relationship to people you barely know? Is it a sign of affection if everyone else can see all the excessive kisses you leave after a wall post? Or is it just a bit odd?

You tell me. Like I said, I'm bitter and lonely. I'm just annoyed that I don't have one for myself.