There are times when we think that Google and Facebook really want to be Santa Claus, i.e., they see you when you’re sleeping, they know when you’re awake, they know when you’ve been bad or good, etc. Facebook data scientist Carlos Diuk late last week revealed that Facebook has come up with a way to predict when you’re about to get into a relationship with someone based just on the number of interactions with them leading up to the time when you change your status from “single” to “in a relationship.”
“During the 100 days before the relationship starts, we observe a slow but steady increase in the number of timeline posts shared between the future couple,” Diuk writes. “When the relationship starts (‘day 0’), posts begin to decrease. We observe a peak of 1.67 posts per day 12 days before the relationship begins, and a lowest point of 1.53 posts per day 85 days into the relationship. Presumably, couples decide to spend more time together, courtship is off, and online interactions give way to more interactions in the physical world.”
Facebook has even come up with a way to detect whether users in a new relationship are posting positive emotions on their Facebook feeds and, wouldn’t you know it, being in a new relationship leads to an increase in happy posts. The main takeaway here seems to be that if you don’t want Facebook to know about your love life then you shouldn’t share anything on the social network with the person you’re courting and you should pretend that you’re completely miserable in the days leading up to becoming a couple.
