When Chris Brown and Rihanna change their status on Facebook to single, you know it’s over. The social networking site isn’t just being used by you and your friends to make statements about your relationship, but Chris Brown and Rihanna have proven that this might be the public break-up method of modern day celebrity couples.
Not only does Facebook display whether you are Single, In a Relationship, Engaged, Married, It’s Complicated or In an Open Relationship, but it informs everyone on your friends list when you make a change.
The status change by Chris Brown and Rihanna follows the news that he physically abused the 19-year-old singer last week, so it’s thankful Chris changed himself to ‘Single.’
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Public Breakup Announcement on Social Media
- Social media has become a go-to platform for high-profile celebrity couples to announce their breakups.
- Relationship Status as Public Disclosure
- More and more people are using their relationship status on social media to make a public statement about their romantic life.
- Social Media as Relationship Indicator
- Social media usage is becoming a key factor in determining and discussing the relationship status of individuals in the public eye.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Social Media
- Social media platforms could develop new features to enable users to customize their relationship status in more unique ways, and even add text or multimedia to the announcement.
- Entertainment
- There is a potential for new marketing and branding opportunities for celebrities who choose to use social media as a platform for personal announcements in the future.
- Mental Health
- Health professionals could explore ways to work with social media platforms to promote healthy relationship behaviors and discussions, and even intervene in cases where public announcements of breakups may indicate the need for support or counseling.
