Boy Meets Girl: How Facebook Functions in Modern Romance

NOV. 20, 2010— -- There's no denying that Facebook has had an impact on the way the younger set flirt, fall in love and break up. Now,Seventeen magazine has released a study that depicts just what kind of repercussions the social networking site has had on modern courtship.

"Teens are incredibly social, and Facebook plays a huge role in their love lives," says Ann Shoket, editor-in-chief of Seventeenmagazine.

According to the study — which polled 10,000 guys and girls ages 16 to 21 — Facebook plays an important part in how amorous teens make a connection.

Within one week of meeting a new person, 79% of people click "friend," and after adding a new friend; 60% of people stalk their crush's profile once a day (40% check in on their would-be soulmate several times a day).

Moreover, contrary to beliefs that social networking is erroding interpersonal communication, 72% of those surveyed said that talking to someone online brings you closer to them IRL.

Facebook Plays a Role in How We Fall Out of Love

As we have already seen in other studies, Facebook also plays a role in how we fall out of love. Mashable writer Samuel Axon wrote a detailed feature about how Facebook has changed dating for the worse, Facebook dating app AreYouInterested released a study in which 21% of respondents said they would break up with someone via changing their statuses, and, most recently, infographic wizard David McCandless came out witha chart that shows popular breakup periods by way of status updates.

Seventeen, for its part, reports that 10% of people have been dumped over Facebook, and the same number would just change their relationship status to "single" to cut a lover loose.

The report also depicts the anguish the site can cause after a breakup, citing that 27% of people change their connection to their exes after a breakup via blocking (get Ex-Blocker for that extra push), hiding him or her on the News Feed or unfriending. Surprisingly, 73% of people keep their exes in the friends list. I'd like to see some stats on how many of those 73% stalk said ex after the breakup.

Girls More Judgmental Than Boys, Study Says

A couple of other interesting tidbits from the study:

Girls are more judgmental: 43% of girls would decide not to date someone based on their Facebook profile, compared to 33% of guys.

Guys are more likely to keep relationship statuses under wraps: 17% of guys don't share their status, compared to 12% of girls.

Girls think it's exciting to change their relationship status: 50% of girls get a kick out of the status change — one-third of guys agree; 24% of guys find it unnecessary, compared to 17% of girls.