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Itsnotjustcomplicated...

Facebook relationship status platform
 
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Facebook has changed the way we relate to each other, has broadened our definition of friendship, and has encouraged us to focus on the positive - even if only by only letting us "like" things and thereby avoid the neurolinguistic trap of "disliking" things.

One thing it hasn't done is really change the way we refer to the way we relate to each other -- Facebook relationship status choices are pretty traditional: "It's complicated" could really go for most of the relationships in the world, I think, if we were being honest. And it is a very American and neurolinguistic lesson that if you just say, "like", 30,000 times a day, you will eventually gather a bunch of happy clowns around you and probably find it hard to feel bad.

So most of us are content to wallow in our "is in a relationship with" or "is married to", or "is single" statuses (stati?) and snark smarmily into our fists every time we see an "it's complicated" pop up in the relationship status box, saying to ourselves, "heh-, we ALL know what THAT means.".

But I think we are missing a major opportunity here -- especially in light of all of the various kinds of alternative relationships pending official recognition here in the US depending on the political outcome of the next few months::-- to create a crowd sourced platform on top of which the platform of Facebook can look back in the next few years and say they allowed us to change the actual relationships we have and not just how we refer to them.

I don't know whether that takes the form of an App or a quiz or a system of hash tags or what... just that I am really looking forward to polyamory being something you can choose as your relationship status on fb.

You know what I mean? ;)

JesusHChrist, Sep 03 2012

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       //One thing it hasn't done is really change the way we refer to the way we relate to each other //   

       But why should we all be waiting with baited breath for facebook to change aspects of our lives? Virulent anti-social networking rant ommitted.
Custardguts, Sep 03 2012
  

       Like
Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 03 2012
  

       Wonder how much it would cost to get a disgruntled FB employee to crash the servers and return 300zillion people to the sorts of contact carried out using what's come to be known as 'voice'.
Phrontistery, Sep 03 2012
  

       I hear you [Phrontistery]. Well, read your posting anyway.
AusCan531, Sep 03 2012
  

       Never mind that. Too risky (One does not simply walk into Facebook's server room) and too impermanent (You bet your sweet share price we've got backups). What about a virus that detects traffic to and from Facebook, and slows it down for random periods of time, throwing in the occasional connection reset for good measure? Not constantly, mind you—just often enough to make it frustrating for the truly rabid Facebookers.
ytk, Sep 03 2012
  

       I suggest a web-like graphical view of the relationships between people with different colours representing exactly what they get up to in and out of the bedroom, and arrows, which has no respect for anyone's privacy, mainly because it would be evil. It should also have callouts to Google Maps for voyeurs, jealous soon-to-be-ex-partners and stalkers.
nineteenthly, Sep 03 2012
  

       It could just show that everyone has a relationship with Jesus Christ
4and20, Sep 03 2012
  

       Alriiiight
JesusHChrist, Sep 03 2012
  

       // It could just show that everyone has a relationship with Jesus Christ//
A purely Platonic one, you understand.
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Sep 03 2012
  

       Boooooo!
JesusHChrist, Sep 03 2012
  

       You laugh now...
JesusHChrist, Sep 03 2012
  
      
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