Back in the day, teens everywhere were obsessed with publicly declaring their relationship statuses on social media, also known as making it ‘Facebook Official.’
It was one of Facebook’s first features that has seemed to fall out of favor in recent years.
Now, social media users are criticizing the firm for trying to make going ‘FB official’ ‘cool again’ with a bunch of new features tied to Valentine’s Day.
The latest update will automatically create a love-themed chat for new couples, with custom emojis, festive filters, and the ability to instantly see when your partner is active.
When you declare a new romantic relationship on Facebook, it’ll now open a Messenger conversation for you to chat with your bae, create custom emojis, text colors and more
In a blog post titled ‘Feeling the Love with Messenger,’ Facebook says that anytime a user declares a new relationship status on the site, it will immediately create a Messenger conversation for you and your loved one to connect.
The features became available starting Wednesday, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
When a user opens the Messenger chat, it’ll trigger a cascading shower of hearts that fall across your phone screen.
The chat will also let the user choose a custom emoji to make ‘expressing your love fast and easy,’ along with custom text colors and the option to select a personalized nickname for the conversation.
There’s also ‘festive filters’ that can place heart eyes, candy hearts and other fun images on users faces when they take a picture or share a video.
When a new relationship is declared, it’ll automatically create a Messenger chat for you to talk to your boyfriend or girlfriend. After a user opens the chat, it’ll trigger a shower of hearts (left)
And if that’s not enough, your ‘chat with bae’ will automatically appear at the top of your list of conversations in Messenger.
That way, paranoid girlfriends and boyfriends can easily find out exactly when their partner is logged onto Messenger.
Messenger already has a location-sharing tool, called ‘Live Location’ that lets users share their location with friends if they choose.
This updates automatically depending on where you move. Paired with the latest feature, this means it could be easier to stay on top of your partner’s activities.
Social media users are criticizing the firm for trying to make going ‘FB official’ ‘cool again’ with a bunch of new features tied to Valentine’s Day
Some people have jokingly speculated that Zuckerberg is actually a robot and that the features come off as a robotic attempt at bringing users closer together
To get the new relationship features, you have to let Facebook know that you’re ‘In A Relationship’ by clicking on the ‘About’ section on your Facebook profile, then navigating to the ‘Family and relationships’ section.
Facebook says the features will help users connect with the people ‘most important to you.’
‘Messenger is a special place to connect and share with the people most important to you — whether making date night plans with your partner, arranging a girls night out with your closest friends, or jumping on a group video chat to catch up with your family,’ according to the blog post.
But that hasn’t prevented the idea from coming off as cringeworthy to many users, not to mention a tad intrusive.
One Twitter user pointed out that Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg may be to blame for the new features’ awkwardness
In one particularly pushy line, the blog post says ‘Valentine’s Day may be a perfect time to finally make it ‘FB official’!’
One Twitter user pointed out that Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg may be to blame for the new features’ awkwardness.
Some people have jokingly speculated that Zuckerberg is actually a robot and that the features come off as a robotic attempt at bringing users closer together.
Others simply referred to the features as ‘exasperatingly gimmicky.’
Zuckerberg has pledged in recent months that he wants users to have more meaningful interactions on Facebook, as the site has largely become a place to share viral videos and news articles, while being served advertisements.
But some of those attempts to foster more useful time spent on Facebook have come off a bit stale.
Facebook often shows users memories or anniversaries related to their friends, but it started displaying trivial milestones like being tagged in 10 photos with someone, Bloomberg noted.
Meanwhile, a recent study from a market research firm found that more teens and young adults are ditching Facebook for Snapchat, while its popularity among over-55s surges, suggesting that it may be starting to drift out of touch with its once-hip user base.