Facebook is introducing new tools to help you stop stalking your ex
By Will Stroude
It’s that inevitable rite of passage after a break-up: endless hours spent stalking your ex after he’s tagged at a work do with a vaguely attractive male colleague you otherwise don’t recognise. Of course you don’t want to unfriend him and give away that you, you know, care or anything, so what are you to do?
Well, Mark Zuckerberg is introducing new tools on Facebook to help those unwanted reminders of your heartbreak from cropping up in your newsfeed.
According to a post on Facebook’s newsroom blog, the social media site is updating its ‘Relationship Status’ function to allow you to make ex-partners disappear from view for good without having to remove them as a friend.
When a user changes their relationship status to indicate a romance is over, they will now be given the option to try the new tools, which make it easier to remove old posts that feature you ex, and discreetly prevent them from appearing on your newsfeed or recommending tagging lists.
Equally, anyone worried about clingy former partners will be able to limit the photos, videos or status updates that their ex will see – allowing you to be tagged getting it on with that dishy colleague without a curse-filled drunken comment appearing underneath at 4am.
The update is currently being trialled on a few limited accounts before being rolled out worldwide.
Kelly Winters, product manager for Facebook, said in a statement: “Starting today, we are testing tools to help people manage how they interact with their former partners on Facebook after their relationship has ended. When people change their relationship status to indicate they are no longer in a relationship, they will be prompted to try these tools.
The work is part of our ongoing effort to develop resources for people who may be going through difficult moments in their lives. We hope these tools will help people end relations on Facebook with greater ease, comfort and sense of control.”
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