Facebook may know more about your love life than you might expect. With the mounds of data the social media site has collected from users, Facebook can predict of a romantic relationship is meant to last--or is doomed to fail.
The Facebook Data Science team has actually mined a veritable treasure trove of status updates for insights on love and relationships, according to Smithsonian.com. Although the research is still ongoing, it seems that many of the more common assumptions about how romance plays out among different cultures and demographics are correct. Yet the team has also made some more surprising findings over the course of their research.
When two people are about to enter a relationship, they interact more and more on Facebook during the two weeks leading up to an official "status" change, according to Fox News. About 12 days before, they share an average of 1.67 posts per day. Then, their Facebook interactions start to decline, most likely because they're spending more time together offline.
"We have such a wide-ranging set of data, including on places there may not be data on otherwise," said Mike Develin, one of the members of the Facebook team, in an interview with Fox News.
Relationships are most likely to end during the summer as compared to other seasons, according to The Huffington Post. In addition, there was an acceleration of breakups during the year 2011.
So why map love in the first place? The data reveals that Facebook can accurately measure relationships between people. More specifically, it shows how this data could be used in various applications. The data is certainly valuable as a tool, but what it will be used for remains another question entirely. For now, though, enjoy Valentine's Day!
