1. “Let’s Make it Facebook Official”: Cognitions Related to Posting One’s Status on Facebook
Sarah K. Petty, Marian M. Morry, & Tamara A. Sucharyna
Introduction
“Facebook official” refers to the posting of a romantically involved relationship status on one’s Facebook (FB) profile.
Individuals in romantic relationships are often motivated to include aspects of their partner in their self-concepts (Aron et al.,1991), and this may translate to presenting the partner and the relationship on one’s Facebook profile.
There are benefits to becoming FB official, such as increased social support (Li et al., 2015)
However, individuals may be hesitant to display a romantically involved relationship status due to the fact that this action allows a large social network to publicly comment on, or privately judge the relationship.
In this study we were interested in further exploring the FB relationship status.
Results
Discussion
R1.
Relationship status nondisclosure either by omission (not displaying a relationship status) or by overt means (displaying a “Single” status) is quite common.
Despite the fact that all participants had been in a relationship for at least 6 months, many still maintained the “Single” status.
Males predominantly chose not to display any relationship status or a “Single” status.
R2.
Individuals may choose to display relationship statuses as a way to inform a social network of a current romantic relationship.
In contrast, others choose not to display any status due to the desire for privacy.
These represent two opposing desires created by social media: to “tell-all” and to remain “tight lipped”.
R3.
Choosing the “It’s Complicated” status conveys deeply personal relationship information to a social network as it is often interpreted as meaning that there is trouble in the relationship or that there is a high degree of uncertainty about the relationship.
R4.
43% of participants who displayed romantically involved statuses took it a step further by displaying a linked profile.
This signifies the “highest level” of relationship status as it conveys the most relationship-related information that an individual can share with a social network through the relationship status function.
R1.
R2.
Motivations to display a romantically involved relationship status
Frequency
Inform other potential partners that I am taken 43
Inform others that my partner is taken 37
It’s what my friends do 18
Gain social support 10
Pressure from partner 6
Other 28
Motivations to not display any relationship status
Frequency
I’m a private person 25
Nervous about what would happen on FB when we broke up 3
I didn’t feel that my relationship was stable enough 1
Other 12
R4.
Research Questions
R1. Do romantically involved individuals display romantically involved relationship statuses on Facebook?
R2. What motivates the decision to display (or not display) a romantically involved Facebook relationship status?
R3. What does the “It’s Complicated” relationship status mean?
R4. How common is linking relationship statuses though Facebook?
R3.
What does the “It’s Complicated” relationship status mean?
Frequency
Undefined relationship status 79
Difficult time in relationship 51
Way to seek attention 19
45.5% of participants who linked their profiles had discussed this decision with their partner prior to linking profiles.
Method
Participants
130 participants (63 males, 67 females) M age = years (SD = 4.95),
67.7% Caucasian/European
97.7% heterosexual
In a dating relationship for at least 6 months
Procedure
Participants completed an on-line survey with questions relating to FB use and FB-related behaviors.
Future Directions
Are there gender differences in respect to the perceived importance of displaying a romantically involved relationship status when in a relationship? Are males or females more likely to initiate linking profiles on Facebook?
Does the decision to display a “single” status, or not display any status on FB while in a relationship relate to reduced commitment, or increased attention to alternatives?
Presented at the 2016 SPSP Conference, San Diego, CA.
Questions or comments?
Contact Sarah Petty at