Facebook has introduced a new ‘Ask’ button that allows users to enquire into a friend’s relationship status, just in case you wanted to be less subtle about your Facebook creeping.
The feature, which has been rolled out incrementally since January, is now available to all users who want to pester their friends into divulging more information about themselves. The ‘Ask’ button isn’t solely limited to relationship statuses, though, as it can also be used to enquire into a variety of other personal information such as place of work, education, phone number, email address and more.
We’re not entirely sure who’d make use of this feature aside from weirdos and perverts, but as that makes up a large portion of Facebook’s user base it’ll likely find itself a welcoming audience. Previously, personal information that a user chose to withhold would be kept hidden in the ‘About Me’ section of their profile, but now other users can click the ‘Ask’ button in order to send a message to them that requests the information be divulged to them privately.
Back in 2010, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people.
“We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are.”
Obviously the social norm that Facebook is currently reflecting is the one where you walk up to an acquaintance and shout “WHY ARE YOU SINGLE?” at their face.
