The last thing anyone wants following a breakup is to see photos of their ex smiling it up and having a good time with a new love interest. After all, if you can barely get out of bed and can’t stop listening to the Kelly Clarkson station on Pandora, seeing a photo of your ex jet-skiing doesn’t do much to help the healing process. And with everyone posting ever facet of their lives on Facebook these days, steering clear of what your ex is up can be borderline impossible.
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But lest you worry, Facebook is doing all that it can to help you get over your heartbreak as soon as possible. Earlier today, the social networking giant published a blog post detailing new software tools it’s rolling out for users who’d just as soon not like to be reminded of their ex every time they check their news feed.
The way it works is quite simple; when a user changes his/her Facebook relationship status to indicate that they’re now single, they’ll be presented with a few new software tools to help them limit how often their ex pops up on Facebook.
“See less of a former partner’s name and profile picture around Facebook without having to unfriend or block them,” Facebook writes. “Their posts won’t show up in News Feed and their name won’t be suggested when people write a new message or tag friends in photos.”
Some of the more granular controls provided to users include:
- Limit the photos, videos or status updates that a former partner will see.
- Edit who can see their past posts with a former partner and untag themselves from posts with that person.
As it stands now, the new software tools are only being rolled out to mobile users in the U.S. Depending how the initial rollout goes, the new breakup software, so to speak, may soon expand to the desktop and to other countries as well.
“This work is part of our ongoing effort to develop resources for people who may be going through difficult moments in their lives,” Facebook explains. “We hope these tools will help people end relationships on Facebook with greater ease, comfort and sense of control.”
