the new class ring

Last night, Joe and I took a big step forward in our relationship.

We became "Facebook-official".

It's kind of odd, really, that so many people see changing your relationship status on Facebook from Single to In A Relationship as being the true public announcement of the state of your love life. Joe and I have been official in our own eyes since April 1. A few friends and family members knew early on, and we let the rest of our mutual friends know during the 2nd week of June, after our 2nd visit with each other (FYI: long distance relationships can be a bit of a PITA). Two weeks later, and we each mentioned it on our blogs, first him and then me. The remainder of our family members learned through the respective family gossip loops for the most part.

It was a bit disconcerting when at least one person in our social network commented via Facebook back in June that we needed to change our FB status for it to be official. Really? Oh my.

If I had to select a relationship status to describe my interaction with the Facebook platform, it would definitely be It's Complicated. I love to see my friends post photos, and it has become my default photo hosting site as well. I like being able to see snippets of people's lives as revealed through their status updates, although I hide all News Feed posts for the various applications. Sorry, but I do not need to know that you just planted 50 pea plants while playing Farmville (most likely while you were on the clock at work, haha). I have found long-lost friends through Facebook, and while the Facebook interface alone will never bring back the closeness we may have once had, it doesn't mean that I don't care about what happens in their lives.

On the other hand, I have my privacy settings set very high. I am circumspect about what I post there, especially since I am Facebook Friends with some coworkers. I don't have my email or phone # published there. I do not have a link to this blog there.

So why did I want to change my relationship status on Facebook finally? Neither Joe nor I are big attention hogs. Quite the opposite, we both tend to shy away from a lot of intense scrutiny. I think it boils down to the fact that I'm an honest person at heart. I don't consider myself single anymore and it seemed silly to have my status listed as such. It was annoying to be shown ads featuring "Hot 30's Singles In Your Area" (though I suppose we will start being hit with jewelry and flower ads and such now).

Sure, we could have simply removed our relationship status altogether and left it blank. But there is something nice after all about there being a public acknowledgement that you have a special someone. Back in my high school days, it was exchanging class rings. Today, technology dictates something else. The response was immediate: 5 "likes" and 4 comments on my profile alone in the first minute after we changed our status. No lie. Now I am up to 40+ "likes" and 23 comments in the 1st 24 hours, plus Joe has some on his page too.

I guess I gotta keep him now. ;-)