"Can I say you're my girlfriend on Facebook?"

No, you'd hide it forever and ever.

Of course I'd tell my close friends about it, in real life. But I wouldn't want all of my 100+ Facebook friends to get this announcement.

My ex and I actually staged an argument across Twitter and Facebook before ending our relationship on Facebook. Everyone thought we were joking.

Staged? Why would you do such a thing?

they probably just said that to be polite

Cause it was fun. xp

We had a ott soap opera style BUT HOW COULD YOU on twitter and then ended the relationship on Facebook and got a bunch of "lol" responses. We then had to explain that the argument had been a joke but the breakup was real.

I realize that this is not normal behavior.

Our own little Baker 'n' Moakler. ;-)

i like the "now single" announcement. saves me having to ring previous ex's myself for the rebound sex.

just realized that you can prevent facebook from making a big ol' announcement when you change your relationship status etc. (after i changed it, of course).

also i was disappointed that when i removed the "interested in: women" field, it didn't say "jordan is no longer interested in women".

They know you better than a silly faux-change. ;-)

So how do you goabout not making it public?

settings > privacy > news feed & wall > uncheck 'change relationship status' or whatever

you can also hit "hide" at th end of the "story" or whatever.

i think 'hide' only removes it from your own wall, though, not from the news feed of your friends

shit!

http://10.media.tumblr.com/eDQpm1VFVqht8tncHt8OYNezo1_500.png

http://21.media.tumblr.com/eDQpm1VFVqggb0ug71ZQrNSgo1_500.png

jordan you are my fb friend and i did not receive this urgent news, fyi

hahahahaha

http://www.lamebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/try-again1.jpg

meanwhile, i'm currently experiencing my first facebook-friend serious illness. a guy who i used to work with and am very fond of -- even though i haven't seen him in several years -- has just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. prognosis is not good. and it's a weird thing, because under normal, pre-online-network circumstances, i would have only heard about this vaguely and from a distance, probably from mutual friends. but now i'm watching it, still from a distance, but in great intimate detail, one status update at a time. it's sort of wrenching, and of course i can't do anything except keep writing notes to him. which is good, i think he really needs all the emotional support he can get, on facebook or anywhere else. so i think it's a positive function of facebook overall.

but it's still a weird feeling, to be scrolling down the home page past the various kinds of daily-clutter posts and run into his latest grim test results. and i think it would be much weirder if he were one of those facebook friends who i don't really know that well (or at all). i'm comfortable talking with him about this stuff because we're old friends, but if he were just a casual acquaintance or a friend of a friend, i wouldn't know what if anything to say. it would feel invasive in a way to even read it. but at the same time it would seem sort of bad form to drop someone in that situation from a friends' list. i don't know. i imagine a lot more things like this will come up.

I think you can drop person from your news feed without dropping him from your friends list, if you don't want to read his updates.

no i want to read his updates. it's just ... strange.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2648/3695517494_a279e0f8e6.jpg

^^^ A++++ last comment.

haha

Good to know that you can prevent notices about certain things going out to everyone on your friends list. I was thinking about that recently and it really started to weird me out. Thanks for the info, Jordan.

yeah one of my exes didn't turn the feed thing off when we broke up - went to a party that night and had about six different people come up to me going "omg you broke up with xxxxxx?????"

I don't really post any personal stuff on there anymore since I have about 15 random ppl from HS as friends now but it's nice to know that that there is an option to switch off that kind of thing.

I dont say anything personal on FB at all - my mother reads mine, and she quizzes anything negative I say, eg if I say I was sick shes in my face worrying. So all y'all get from me now is 2 line silly nothings, thanks family.

i've got all kinds of family on facebook - mom, dad, both sisters, cousins, my fucking grandmother - but i've learned not to give a shit

^^^

hahaha I still give a shit. There are some things not everyone needs to know - at least not all at once.

Wow okay so this 'Stalker Check' application appears to actually work...

My top stalker is my wife... Not really a surprise.

For privacy reasons, this app only lists users who have interacted with your profile at least once during your friendship (e.g. by writing on your wall, or liking something). Real stalkers (the creepy kind) are protected by Facebook Privacy, and will never be revealed, by this or any other app.
Shame about that, could have been fun (or scary).

What's the stalker check application called? I couldn't find it.

http://apps.facebook.com/stalkercheck/

Whoa, my top stalker is my ex! I didn't expect that.

my mother in law is my top stalker (!!)

Whoa, my top stalker is my ex! I didn't expect that.

This is a joke, right?

Wait, so it just counts up how many times people have written on your wall or sent you gifts? Not how many times people have looked at your profile? Because I don't like the latter idea at all.

yeah, I just clicked through all the stuff you have to click through, and it was just a list of my top commenters. These are my friends, not my stalkers.

for real! xp

The latter idea is forbidden by the Facebook Privacy Policy. Yes, it basically counts how many times people have posted to your profile/pictures...

Just Say NO to dumbass Facebook apps. Because...

From Privacy Settings > Applications > Settings tab:

When a friend of yours allows an application to access their information, that application may also access any information about you that your friend can already see.

That shit is wide-open by default. Pick "Do not share any information about me through the Facebook API" if you haven't already.

and STOP USING APPS

Yeah every one of these stupid quizzes is sending everything else about you all over facebook. It tells you so, if you read carefully.

If people could see who viewed their profiles on Facebook then a bunch of people I went to school with would think I really liked them because I click on their profiles in horrified fascination at how fat and bald they got in a decade.

Andthat'sjustthewomen ahhhhhh

Ohmygod so so true.

It's more than a little suspicious that the "who's you're stalker?" app plants itself on your page and in your feed without even asking you. This is more virulent even than most quizzes.

Who's Your Sucker?

im kinda curious about a facebook trend i've noticed: straight women who are "in a relationship" or "married" to their best female friend. I keep seeing this more and more. Is this like an extension of those old boarding school "romances" between straight women?

hoes before bros innit