Update or change your relationship status on Facebook

When you first signed up for Facebook, you had the option to fill in a "relationship status" - this information is used on your public Facebook profile to let others know that you are "Single", "In a relationship", "Engaged", "Married", "In an open relationship", "Widowed", or "It's complicated"! Since things evolve, you will find yourself having to change or update your Facebook relationship status: this tutorial explains how to do this, how to show or hide your relationship status from other Facebook users (public, private, for friends only, etc.), and if you can do so without other people knowing (anyone, or Facebook users in particular).

• In this free Facebook tutorial:
• Change your Facebook relationship status
• Show or hide your relationship status (public / private)
• Can you change your relationship status without people / anyone knowing?

Change your Facebook relationship status

To change the relationship status of your Facebook profile:

• If needed, login to your account
• Click on the "Edit My Profile" link
• On the Profile Settings page, click on "Relationships" in the left sidebar
• The first dropdown menu, labeled "Relationship Status", allows you to change your Facebook relationship status to one of the options mentioned earlier.
• Pick the best description for your current relationship status, and Facebook will ask you to (optionally) enter another user for this relationship, and an anniversary date.
• To apply the new relationship, click on the "Save Changes" button .
• To remove your relationship status altogether, just pick the first option (which is blank) - this will stop displaying any sort of relationship status on your Facebook profile. (The next section explains how to set a relationship status, but hide it from certain Facebook users.)

This is how easily you can change your relationship status of your Facebook profile! Note that when you supply the name of another Facebook member in your relationship, they will receive an email like this, and a notification and be able to confirm or ignore:

Show or hide your relationship status (public / private)

As mentioned above, you can set your relationship status to "blank" if you don't want to share this information; but Facebook also lets you set privacy levels for your relationship status, to let you hide it from some Facebook users but show it to others:

• Login to your Facebook account, and click on the "Account" dropdown menu (top right corner)
• Select "Privacy Settings"
• Facebook will list all your current privacy settings
• Click on the "Customize settings" link
• The next screen lists all the privacy options you have: locate "Relationships", and click on the corresponding dropdown menu
• You can make your relationship status visible to "Everyone", "Friends of Friends", "Friends Only" — from most public to most private.
• To customize further to whom show or hide your current relationship status, click on the "Customize" option: Facebook will open the "Custom Privacy" dialog:
  
  
• The top part lets you make your relationship status visible to only a certain group of people: either pick "Only Me" to hide your relationship status from all but yourself, or choose "Specific People" to pick those (like close friends) who will be allowed to view your relationship status.
• The bottom part lets you hide your relationship status from specific people
• Use the "Make this visible to" and "Hide this from" to find the perfect level of privacy you want for your Facebook relationship status!

Can you change your relationship status without people / anyone knowing?

As you saw in the previous section, Facebook lets you customize the privacy and visibility of your relationship status: when you change relationship status, all these people will be able to see the new, updated relationship status if they go to your Facebook profile. Other than the person you optionally add as member in your relationship, other Facebook users won't receive a notice, even the former relationship partner.


In other words, Facebook offers you a convenient, "silent breakup" option. (Assuming no-one tells your boyfriend / girlfriend about the relationship status update, and that he or she does not notice the relationship change that automatically occurred on their profile as well, but the status will be changed silently.)

Depending on your partner's number of friends, their Facebook account settings and yours (you can make your recent updates invisible to some), they may come across your latest "Recent Activity" posts:

Facebook Tutorial

• Customize and Edit Facebook Profile Tutorials:
• Edit / change your Facebook profile information
• Change Facebook email address
• Change Facebook password
• Show, hide, or add your gender on your Facebook profile
• Add or remove "interested in men / women" on your Facebook profile
• Update the "Looking For" settings on your Facebook profile
• Add, remove, or change your Current City in your Facebook profile
• Add or remove Hometown on your Facebook profile
• Add your birthday on Facebook + Customize birth date display settings
• Show, hide, update or add Political Views on your Facebook profile
• Remove, update, add Religious Views on Facebook profile (your religion)
• Add a mini bio on your Facebook profile (biographical information about you)
• Add a quote on your Facebook profile + Edit Favorite Quotations
• Add, remove, or update Employer / job information on your Facebook profile
• Add another Employer to your Facebook profile (second job)
• Remove or add your High School name on your Facebook profile
• Remove or add College or University name + degree on Facebook profile
• Add a second college or university on your Facebook profile (another school)
• Hide updates on your Facebook account profile (Delete Recent Activity)
• Change Facebook language settings
• Add languages you speak to your Facebook profile

These free Facebook tutorials were written for the new Facebook, and are updated with each latest version of your favorite social networking site on Windows and Mac.