When you change your relationship status on Facebook, it can trigger a notification that appears in your friends’ News Feeds. However, there are some factors that determine whether or not your friends will actually see your updated relationship status.
Who can see my new relationship status?
By default, when you change your relationship status on Facebook, it is visible to all of your friends. However, you have some options to control who can see your relationship status update:
- You can choose to exclude specific friends from seeing your update by using the audience selector when updating your status.
- You can limit your entire profile to only be visible to certain friend lists or groups.
- You can block individual friends from seeing your profile and posts.
So if you don’t want a particular friend or group to know about your new relationship status, you can hide it from them. Just remember that limiting the audience means that those friends won’t see any of your updates.
Will my new status show up in my friends’ News Feeds?
Maybe. When you change your relationship status, Facebook generates a notification about it. Whether your friends actually see that notification depends on a few factors:
- How frequently your friends check Facebook – if they aren’t very active, they may miss the notification.
- How many other posts and updates your friends have in their News Feeds – your new status may get pushed down quickly.
- Your friends’ notifications settings – they may have notifications turned off for certain things.
- Facebook’s algorithms – the site controls what posts are shown in the News Feed.
So while changing your relationship status can trigger a notification, there’s no guarantee your friends will see it right away (or at all). The more active friends you have on Facebook, the more likely it is that at least some of them will see the update.
How long will my status update stay visible?
Your updated relationship status will remain on your profile indefinitely, or until you change it again. The notification showing you changed it will only be shown in your friends’ News Feeds for a limited time though.
Typically, a notification about something like a relationship status update may stay in your friends’ feeds for around 24-48 hours. But it depends on how much other new content is being posted.
The notification highlighting your new status will eventually get pushed down and disappear from your friends’ News Feeds. But the status itself will always be visible on your profile to those you’ve allowed to see it.
Can people see my past relationship statuses?
When you change your relationship status on Facebook, it does not delete or hide your previous status. All of your past relationship statuses remain visible on your profile.
So if you went from “Single” to “In a Relationship” back to “Single” again, all of those status changes will be visible in the Relationship section of your profile.
This means anyone you are friends with on Facebook can scroll through and see the history of all the relationship statuses you’ve had over time.
Can I hide relationship history from my profile?
If you don’t want your full relationship status history visible on your profile, there are a couple options:
- You can remove individual statuses from your history using the “Edit History” option.
- You can hide your entire relationship status from your profile.
To edit your relationship status history:
- Go to your profile and click on your current relationship status.
- Click on the “Edit History” option.
- Hover over any status you want to delete and click “Delete.”
- Click “Done” to save your edited history.
Hiding individual statuses or your whole status history means it won’t show at all on your profile. However, there is still a record of your past statuses on Facebook’s back end that can be restored.
Can I prevent status updates in the future?
If you don’t want your relationship status changes to appear as notifications in your friends’ feeds going forward, there a couple options:
- Turn off relationship status updates in your Facebook notifications settings.
- Change your status, then immediately go back to edit the audience to “Only Me.”
Disabling status updates in settings will prevent notifications about your relationship status from going out to your friends for all future changes. Limiting the audience right after changing it will prevent that particular update from being seen.
Conclusion
In summary:
- Your updated relationship status is visible to all friends by default.
- It may or may not show up in your friends’ News Feeds.
- The notification of your new status will disappear, but the status itself remains.
- Your status history is visible, but can be edited or hidden.
- You can prevent future relationship status updates from being seen.
So while your new relationship status has the potential to be seen by all your friends, there are options to limit visibility. Understand the privacy settings and options noted here to control how and when your Facebook relationship status is shared.
Example Visibility Settings Table
| Audience | Who Can See |
|---|---|
| Public | Anyone on or off Facebook |
| Friends | Your friends on Facebook |
| Friends except… | All friends except those you exclude |
| Specific friends | Only friends you select |
| Only Me | Just you |
Example Notification Settings Table
| Setting | Result |
|---|---|
| Notifications on | You will be notified of updates |
| Notifications off | You will not get notifications |
| Email notifications on | Updates sent via email |
| Email notifications off | No email notifications sent |
Further Considerations
Here are some additional things to keep in mind when changing your relationship status on Facebook:
- Be thoughtful about who you want to inform about status changes.
- Be aware that even if notifications are off, your info may spread by word of mouth.
- Don’t forget about family members or professional contacts in your network.
- Consider privacy and safety if leaving or entering a relationship.
- Your profile reflects who you are – update information mindfully.
Alternative Social Media Sites
While Facebook is most widely used, there are other social networks where users indicate relationship statuses:
- Instagram – relationship status in bio or shared in posts/stories
- Twitter – relationship status in bio
- LinkedIn – relationship status and partner name fields
- Snapchat – relationship information shared in profile or stories
Each platform has its own options for sharing relationship details publicly or with specific audiences. Always check the privacy settings before updating your status anywhere online.