I had my relationship status as "Single" for a little while. But, because I'm in a "complicated" relationship that I do not talk about with random friends (and so was not going to choose that option), it wasn't really correct. So, I just removed my status altogether, like you, and it then tells my friends "Sarah is no longer single". THAT, of course, just led to more questions!!! Luckily, everyone has now forgotten (and this was before my Mum joined FB)!

I agree that while it can cause problems if two people don't agree on the status, it also simplifies things as you have mentioned if a relationship ends. One click of a button and everyone gets the message, thus avoiding awkward conversations.

However, when you throw in the curveball of the fake relationships, such as girl mates who say they are married, or engagements to one's dog, what is the etiquette with a new partner? At what point is the boyfriend put in front of the dog or best mate?

I agree that while it can cause problems if two people don't agree on the status, it also simplifies things as you have mentioned if a relationship ends. One click of a button and everyone gets the message, thus avoiding awkward conversations.

However, when you throw in the curveball of the fake relationships, such as girl mates who say they are married, or engagements to one's dog, what is the etiquette with a new partner? At what point is the boyfriend put in front of the dog or best mate?

When my boyfriend got a Facebook profile (several months after me) I changed my status to reflect that I was in a relationship with him, and thought it was hilarious when I got the message that said "Thanks, now we're just waiting to hear that Mr X verifies this relationship" or whatever it says. I hadn't even thought about the ramifications of that before. Imagine, you could say "A-T is in a relationship with Justin Timberlake" and it'd provide a link to his Facebook profile.

I just brought it up with my boyfriend (we're living together, and have been for several years) in a joking sort of way, saying "Hey, I told Facebook I was in a relationship with you, but apparently you have to verify that. Haha." And he did.

In a new relationship too, I'm sure a casual comment or joke is the best way to approach the 'decision'. "Hey, if I change my relationship status on Facebook, it'll ask me to confirm that I'm actually in a relationship with you, what do you reckon??" It could actually be a way of working out where your relationship stands in general.

But yeah, the morning after you meet, or after your first date? Nuh-uh, that's a bit quick.

I'm married and I don't intend that to change, so yes, I proudly state the facts.

Well in some ways I am off the hook as my relationship predates my having used facebook. So it became "in a relationship with XYZ" once I figured out how to make my profile say that.

One of my Bebo "friends that I don't really know that well at all" tended to do the relationship status changing hourly trick. I think she must have lived with her cell phone in her hand, and updated the status during the middle of arguments.

The big picture is though that we all define relationships slightly differently. Some people aren't in a relationship until they're playing "hide Mr Sausage", some people aren't unless they're only playing "hide Mr Sausage" with one person instead of the whole team, other people are in a relationship after a coffee, distance dating people might be in a relationship before they have met the person. So in conclusion, communism was a red herring (virtual chocolate fish to the person who tells me the movie I'm quoting).

I just go with it's complicated all the time..cos relationships are complicated...that way regardless the status always fits.

I changed to no status as soon as I knew the relationship was over - 6 months before we finally split. Ex is not on fb so no hurt feelings there, but MANY people questioned the "Qwerty* is no longer married" update. (I changed it early because I knew that I wouldn't want to be talking about it once it finally happened.)

Weird that someone in a relationship would want the world to think that they were single. Sounds a bit dodgy, I would take it as a sign. A very bad sign.

I never used the relationship status "single" on Facebook; I simply left it blank. The yo-yo changes on some of my friends' profiles are both entertaining and sad. Changing a status to "in a relationship" seemed to be the kiss of death for many of my friends' relationships. For this reason, my sweetie and I were both careful and cautious about what was on our profiles - we didn't want to jinx anything! It took us eight months together to take the plunge and state that we were both "in a relationship" (with each other!) after we both agreed that we were probably 'safe'. However, upon seeing the update, our friends simply laughed and said "that's old news", lol.

Hi Greer, This status thing is something I have been thinking a lot about lately. For the last 3 years I have been in a string of 2 month "relationships", if you can even call them that. I have always wanted to change my status, but then right when it feels suitable something happens and its all off, at which point I am so thankful I didn't jump the gun and let everyone know it was on and then quickly off! I have been seeing a guy since New Years Eve. I sometimes find myself looking at his page and the word "single" jumping out at me, like he's aiming at me. A stupid insecurity of mine which I realise is completely and utterly rediculous. Especially since it hasn't even been a month since we started seeing each other. Argh, the stupid things that go through a perpetually single girls mind!