Facebook Official

2005Slang / internet culture conceptdeclining

Also known as: FBO · FB Official

Facebook Official is a 2005 slang term for declaring a romantic relationship by changing one's Facebook status to "In a Relationship," a dating milestone among college students.

"Facebook Official" is a slang expression describing the act of a couple changing their Facebook relationship status to "In a Relationship" with each other, treating it as a modern milestone in dating. The term originated around 2005 among college students and peaked in the late 2000s and early 2010s before declining sharply as younger users grew wary of broadcasting their love lives online1. By 2015, roughly 40% of twentysomethings refused to use the feature at all, viewing it as cheesy or risky3.

TL;DR

"Facebook Official" is a slang expression describing the act of a couple changing their Facebook relationship status to "In a Relationship" with each other, treating it as a modern milestone in dating.

Overview

"Facebook Official" (often abbreviated FBO) refers to the moment when two people in a romantic relationship update their Facebook profiles to display "In a Relationship" and tag each other by name. During the mid-to-late 2000s, this status change carried real social weight. It was treated as the digital equivalent of "defining the relationship," a public declaration that your partner was locked in1. The concept extended beyond romance: the phrase "It's Complicated," one of Facebook's relationship status options, entered Urban Dictionary in 2007 and became an iconic way to describe messy dating situations6.

The term also broadened beyond relationships. Anything posted on Facebook could be described as "Facebook Official," meaning it only truly counted once it appeared on the platform for everyone to see5.

The earliest known formal definition appeared on December 11, 2005, when Urban Dictionary user "ilovebronsoncornrows" submitted an entry for "Facebook Official," calling it "the ultimate definition of a college relationship"4. At the time, Facebook was still primarily used by students at U.S. universities, and the relationship status feature was one of the platform's first social tools6. The concept spread organically through campus culture as students adopted the status change as a genuine romantic milestone.

Additional Urban Dictionary entries from the same era expanded the definition. One described it as the moment "a relationship is official, and you know so because the couple changes their status from either 'single' or 'it's complicated' to 'in a relationship'"5. Another framed it more broadly: "When an event has happened and it only really counts if it has been put on Facebook for everyone to see"5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Facebook, Urban Dictionary (earliest definition)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2005
Year
2005

The earliest known formal definition appeared on December 11, 2005, when Urban Dictionary user "ilovebronsoncornrows" submitted an entry for "Facebook Official," calling it "the ultimate definition of a college relationship". At the time, Facebook was still primarily used by students at U.S. universities, and the relationship status feature was one of the platform's first social tools. The concept spread organically through campus culture as students adopted the status change as a genuine romantic milestone.

Additional Urban Dictionary entries from the same era expanded the definition. One described it as the moment "a relationship is official, and you know so because the couple changes their status from either 'single' or 'it's complicated' to 'in a relationship'". Another framed it more broadly: "When an event has happened and it only really counts if it has been put on Facebook for everyone to see".

How It Spread

By 2008, the concept had enough cultural traction to generate media commentary. On August 19, 2008, Gawker published "No, She Won't Go 'Facebook Official' With You," treating the status change as a source of relationship anxiety. The following year, the college news site North by Northwestern ran an article on April 2, 2009 about university students navigating the pressure of going "Facebook official" in their romantic lives.

The phrase crossed into pop culture in October 2011, when the boy band Heart2Heart released a music video titled "Facebook Official," uploaded to YouTube on October 5th. The video played the concept for laughs, treating the status update as the pinnacle of young romance.

Media coverage shifted from curiosity to critique in 2014 and 2015. On September 10, 2014, Elite Daily's YouTube channel posted a comedy skit called "Becoming 'Facebook Official' is a Huge Mistake". Then in January 2015, BuzzFeed News ran a poll titled "How Do You Use Facebook's Relationship Status?" that drew up to 80,000 respondents. The results painted a clear picture: about 40% of twentysomethings said they would never display their relationship status, with most calling it "cheesy". Sixty-eight percent of single people hid their status entirely, viewing a public "single" label as desperate. On February 11, 2015, Elite Daily published "Why Couples Don't Make Their Relationships Facebook Official Anymore," arguing that couples had moved toward subtler signals like shared profile photos or birthday posts on Instagram.

By February 2016, the New Statesman declared the relationship status "pretty much dead" among the twentysomething generation. The article traced the decline to a simple feedback loop: people tried it once in the first flush of romance, then never forgot the crushing embarrassment of living out their breakup online. As one interviewee told the outlet, watching a breakup become "public property" on Facebook was enough to swear off the feature permanently.

How to Use This Meme

The phrase "Facebook Official" is typically used in two ways:

1

As a relationship milestone: After a couple decides they're exclusive, one or both partners navigate to their Facebook profile settings, change their relationship status to "In a Relationship," and tag their partner. Facebook then broadcasts this change to both users' friend networks, often generating a flood of likes and congratulatory comments.

2

As a general expression: People use "it's not Facebook Official" to mean something hasn't been publicly confirmed yet, or "make it Facebook Official" to mean making any announcement public on the platform.

Cultural Impact

Facebook itself responded to the declining use of relationship statuses with two notable product changes. In May 2014, the platform introduced an "Ask" button that let users request information from friends who hadn't filled out profile fields, including relationship status. The feature was widely mocked. As the New Statesman put it: "Show me a single person who actually did this, and I'll show you a person with one less Facebook friend".

In November 2015, Facebook rolled out tools designed to make digital breakups less painful. Users who changed their relationship status could now "take a break" from an ex, hiding their posts and untagging shared photos without unfriending or blocking. The company framed it as support for "people who may be going through difficult moments in their lives," but the move also acknowledged that the relationship status had become a liability rather than a feature.

The BuzzFeed poll revealed some unexpected social dynamics around the feature. Thirty-nine percent of respondents admitted to creating a fake "marriage" with a friend on Facebook. One BuzzFeed reporter had been listed as "married" to her high school best friend since 2005, calling it a relief because it meant neither of them ever had to have "The Talk" with their actual boyfriends about updating their status. Only 3% of people who hid their status admitted to doing so because they were "up to something shady".

The concept also spawned its own relationship anxiety. As writer Samuel Axon noted in Mashable in 2010, "Changing Facebook relationship status has, for better or worse, joined first date, first kiss, first night together, exclusivity talk, and first 'I love you' on the list of important relationship milestones". Research cited by the New Statesman found that shared relationship statuses and couple photos were indicators of "greater relationship commitment," suggesting that the reluctance to go FBO might reflect a broader generational hesitance toward public commitment.

Fun Facts

The BuzzFeed relationship status poll attracted up to 80,000 respondents on its first question, though only about 40,000 made it to the last question.

Seventy-five percent of poll respondents were aged 19-29, making the results heavily skewed toward the generation that grew up with Facebook.

In the 1950s, couples on U.S. campuses announced serious relationships by taking out ads in college newspapers, making "Facebook Official" the digital heir to a much older tradition.

One BuzzFeed poll respondent explained his refusal to use the feature in a profanity-laden email, arguing that the moment you change your status, "Facebook will always decide that this is the biggest shiteating news in the whole god damn world".

Derivatives & Variations

"It's Complicated"

— Facebook's ambiguous relationship status option became a standalone catchphrase for messy dating situations after entering Urban Dictionary in 2007[6].

Fake Facebook marriages

— A widespread practice where friends listed each other as "married" on Facebook as a joke or shield against relationship pressure. The BuzzFeed poll found 39% of users had done this at some point[1].

Heart2Heart "Facebook Official" music video

— A 2011 boy band music video that turned the concept into a pop song, uploaded to YouTube on October 5, 2011[4].

Elite Daily "Becoming 'Facebook Official' is a Huge Mistake"

— A 2014 comedy skit dramatizing the social fallout of the status change[4].

Frequently Asked Questions

Facebook Official

2005Slang / internet culture conceptdeclining

Also known as: FBO · FB Official

Facebook Official is a 2005 slang term for declaring a romantic relationship by changing one's Facebook status to "In a Relationship," a dating milestone among college students.

"Facebook Official" is a slang expression describing the act of a couple changing their Facebook relationship status to "In a Relationship" with each other, treating it as a modern milestone in dating. The term originated around 2005 among college students and peaked in the late 2000s and early 2010s before declining sharply as younger users grew wary of broadcasting their love lives online. By 2015, roughly 40% of twentysomethings refused to use the feature at all, viewing it as cheesy or risky.

TL;DR

"Facebook Official" is a slang expression describing the act of a couple changing their Facebook relationship status to "In a Relationship" with each other, treating it as a modern milestone in dating.

Overview

"Facebook Official" (often abbreviated FBO) refers to the moment when two people in a romantic relationship update their Facebook profiles to display "In a Relationship" and tag each other by name. During the mid-to-late 2000s, this status change carried real social weight. It was treated as the digital equivalent of "defining the relationship," a public declaration that your partner was locked in. The concept extended beyond romance: the phrase "It's Complicated," one of Facebook's relationship status options, entered Urban Dictionary in 2007 and became an iconic way to describe messy dating situations.

The term also broadened beyond relationships. Anything posted on Facebook could be described as "Facebook Official," meaning it only truly counted once it appeared on the platform for everyone to see.

The earliest known formal definition appeared on December 11, 2005, when Urban Dictionary user "ilovebronsoncornrows" submitted an entry for "Facebook Official," calling it "the ultimate definition of a college relationship". At the time, Facebook was still primarily used by students at U.S. universities, and the relationship status feature was one of the platform's first social tools. The concept spread organically through campus culture as students adopted the status change as a genuine romantic milestone.

Additional Urban Dictionary entries from the same era expanded the definition. One described it as the moment "a relationship is official, and you know so because the couple changes their status from either 'single' or 'it's complicated' to 'in a relationship'". Another framed it more broadly: "When an event has happened and it only really counts if it has been put on Facebook for everyone to see".

Origin & Background

Platform
Facebook, Urban Dictionary (earliest definition)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2005
Year
2005

The earliest known formal definition appeared on December 11, 2005, when Urban Dictionary user "ilovebronsoncornrows" submitted an entry for "Facebook Official," calling it "the ultimate definition of a college relationship". At the time, Facebook was still primarily used by students at U.S. universities, and the relationship status feature was one of the platform's first social tools. The concept spread organically through campus culture as students adopted the status change as a genuine romantic milestone.

Additional Urban Dictionary entries from the same era expanded the definition. One described it as the moment "a relationship is official, and you know so because the couple changes their status from either 'single' or 'it's complicated' to 'in a relationship'". Another framed it more broadly: "When an event has happened and it only really counts if it has been put on Facebook for everyone to see".

How It Spread

By 2008, the concept had enough cultural traction to generate media commentary. On August 19, 2008, Gawker published "No, She Won't Go 'Facebook Official' With You," treating the status change as a source of relationship anxiety. The following year, the college news site North by Northwestern ran an article on April 2, 2009 about university students navigating the pressure of going "Facebook official" in their romantic lives.

The phrase crossed into pop culture in October 2011, when the boy band Heart2Heart released a music video titled "Facebook Official," uploaded to YouTube on October 5th. The video played the concept for laughs, treating the status update as the pinnacle of young romance.

Media coverage shifted from curiosity to critique in 2014 and 2015. On September 10, 2014, Elite Daily's YouTube channel posted a comedy skit called "Becoming 'Facebook Official' is a Huge Mistake". Then in January 2015, BuzzFeed News ran a poll titled "How Do You Use Facebook's Relationship Status?" that drew up to 80,000 respondents. The results painted a clear picture: about 40% of twentysomethings said they would never display their relationship status, with most calling it "cheesy". Sixty-eight percent of single people hid their status entirely, viewing a public "single" label as desperate. On February 11, 2015, Elite Daily published "Why Couples Don't Make Their Relationships Facebook Official Anymore," arguing that couples had moved toward subtler signals like shared profile photos or birthday posts on Instagram.

By February 2016, the New Statesman declared the relationship status "pretty much dead" among the twentysomething generation. The article traced the decline to a simple feedback loop: people tried it once in the first flush of romance, then never forgot the crushing embarrassment of living out their breakup online. As one interviewee told the outlet, watching a breakup become "public property" on Facebook was enough to swear off the feature permanently.

How to Use This Meme

The phrase "Facebook Official" is typically used in two ways:

1

As a relationship milestone: After a couple decides they're exclusive, one or both partners navigate to their Facebook profile settings, change their relationship status to "In a Relationship," and tag their partner. Facebook then broadcasts this change to both users' friend networks, often generating a flood of likes and congratulatory comments.

2

As a general expression: People use "it's not Facebook Official" to mean something hasn't been publicly confirmed yet, or "make it Facebook Official" to mean making any announcement public on the platform.

Cultural Impact

Facebook itself responded to the declining use of relationship statuses with two notable product changes. In May 2014, the platform introduced an "Ask" button that let users request information from friends who hadn't filled out profile fields, including relationship status. The feature was widely mocked. As the New Statesman put it: "Show me a single person who actually did this, and I'll show you a person with one less Facebook friend".

In November 2015, Facebook rolled out tools designed to make digital breakups less painful. Users who changed their relationship status could now "take a break" from an ex, hiding their posts and untagging shared photos without unfriending or blocking. The company framed it as support for "people who may be going through difficult moments in their lives," but the move also acknowledged that the relationship status had become a liability rather than a feature.

The BuzzFeed poll revealed some unexpected social dynamics around the feature. Thirty-nine percent of respondents admitted to creating a fake "marriage" with a friend on Facebook. One BuzzFeed reporter had been listed as "married" to her high school best friend since 2005, calling it a relief because it meant neither of them ever had to have "The Talk" with their actual boyfriends about updating their status. Only 3% of people who hid their status admitted to doing so because they were "up to something shady".

The concept also spawned its own relationship anxiety. As writer Samuel Axon noted in Mashable in 2010, "Changing Facebook relationship status has, for better or worse, joined first date, first kiss, first night together, exclusivity talk, and first 'I love you' on the list of important relationship milestones". Research cited by the New Statesman found that shared relationship statuses and couple photos were indicators of "greater relationship commitment," suggesting that the reluctance to go FBO might reflect a broader generational hesitance toward public commitment.

Fun Facts

The BuzzFeed relationship status poll attracted up to 80,000 respondents on its first question, though only about 40,000 made it to the last question.

Seventy-five percent of poll respondents were aged 19-29, making the results heavily skewed toward the generation that grew up with Facebook.

In the 1950s, couples on U.S. campuses announced serious relationships by taking out ads in college newspapers, making "Facebook Official" the digital heir to a much older tradition.

One BuzzFeed poll respondent explained his refusal to use the feature in a profanity-laden email, arguing that the moment you change your status, "Facebook will always decide that this is the biggest shiteating news in the whole god damn world".

Derivatives & Variations

"It's Complicated"

— Facebook's ambiguous relationship status option became a standalone catchphrase for messy dating situations after entering Urban Dictionary in 2007[6].

Fake Facebook marriages

— A widespread practice where friends listed each other as "married" on Facebook as a joke or shield against relationship pressure. The BuzzFeed poll found 39% of users had done this at some point[1].

Heart2Heart "Facebook Official" music video

— A 2011 boy band music video that turned the concept into a pop song, uploaded to YouTube on October 5, 2011[4].

Elite Daily "Becoming 'Facebook Official' is a Huge Mistake"

— A 2014 comedy skit dramatizing the social fallout of the status change[4].

Frequently Asked Questions