Today, Facebook has certainly become a household name. Almost everyone I know has a page, and I’d estimate that about 90 percent of those actually use it to communicate and keep up with their friends, both real and Facebook-style.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what role the social network plays in relationships.
For us, we don’t interact on Facebook very often because Hubs rarely checks his. (We do tweet at each other fairly often, though!)
But for this couple, Facebook means a lot! They met and married all because of an online search. It’s like a dating site…for free!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/21/same-name-couple-facebook-marry
I mean, my sister and her husband has their first interaction on Facebook because I suggested she might like him and she looked him up and added him as a friend. You never know!
And what about couples who share an account? My parents do that, though most postings and/or interactions come from my mom. Dad’s more of a silent “lurker,” but when he does leave a comment, he usually signs it, “dad,” so we know who we’re talking to.
This wedding photographer dislikes the trend and talks about it here:
http://tonywhitmore.co.uk/blog/2008/08/29/the-facebook-couple-thing/
It works for them, and they definitely don’t need separate accounts, but a lot of my younger married friends still have both, and sometimes leave cute messages on each others’ pages.
But what about the darker side? Stories of cheating significant others caught by incriminating wall posts and messages fill magazines. It’s certainly a real temptation based on how many stories are out there. I’m not going to post one, I think we all know how those stories go, so there’s no reason to dig up the dirty details. I think we all agree that it’s technology that needs to be treated with respect, care, and caution. There’s no way you should do things online you wouldn’t do in person. And if you’d do those sorts of things in person? Well, the relationship is already in need of some seriously healing.
I guess my main question is what role Facebook will play in our marriage as we grow older. Surely, I’ll still use to connect with the friends and family we moved away from. Hubs? Well, I’d guess that his page will eventually be deleted…
What about you? Are you and your spouse on Facebook? Why? Will you stay that way? Any pros and cons?
