Facebook yesterday began testing tools to ease the process of breaking up.
The tools will help ex-partners manage how much of each other and one another's content they see on the social network, so they don't have to be reminded of each other every time they log on.
Users will be prompted to try these tools when they change their relationship status from "in a relationship" to "single", said product manager Kelly Winters.
For users of these tools, posts from an ex will not appear on their Newsfeed, nor will the ex's name be suggested when the user writes messages or tags photos. Users can also limit how much of their content an ex can see, and easily untag themselves from posts featuring their former partners.
"We hope these tools will help people end relationships on Facebook with greater ease, comfort and a sense of control," said Winters.
The tools are being rolled out to mobile users in the US.
Facebook users have long been able to manually limit how much content their exes can see by placing them on their "limited profile" lists, or editing the privacy settings on each individual post. Users have also been able to manually untag themselves from individual posts featuring their exes, and unfollow their exes. Facebook's "On This Day" feature also allows users to hide past posts from certain users.
Yet breakups publicised via Facebook have long had little effect on Facebook's suggestion algorithms, as users' exes - once frequently-contacted Facebook friends - continue to appear near the top of pop-up suggestion lists in actions such as tagging photos or Search Facebook.
A handful of apps and Chrome extensions exist to cover this shortfall or streamline users' online ex-aversion. Apple and Android app Killswitch allows users to discreetly remove ex-related posts en masse, while the Eternal Sunshine Chrome extension lets users hide certain friends from other areas of Facebook besides Newsfeed.
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