Facebook stat flood gives hope to mateless, dateless

If you're moping around, lonely and dateless this New Year's Eve, you can take heart in a new statistic that proves there are, indeed, plenty of available fish in the proverbial sea: 43,869,800 people changed their status to "single" on Facebook in 2010. Get on the phone. It's not too late. That cheering stat was one of many …

[Anonymous Coward]

Facebook stat flood gives hope to mateless, dateless

"If you're moping around, lonely and dateless this New Year's Eve, you can take heart in a new statistic that proves there are, indeed, plenty of available fish in the proverbial sea: 43,869,800 people changed their status to "single" on Facebook in 2010"

Hmm...

43,869,800 are single

10,967,450 are actually real women

5,483,725 half are probably lesbians

that leaves 2,741,862 straight women

1,370,931 are actually good looking

685,465 have no emotional problems

342,732 live halfway around the world

the rest already have a date

[Tanuki]

Badgers.

You're excluding the 1,472,338 users who are actually Badgers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Who really cares?

Why?

How many people really tell the truth on facebook?

How many of those stating that they are single:-

1) Actually single

2) The sex they state

3) The age they state

4) The 'dimentions' (aka Vital stats) they state

5) The location they state?

IMHO (And I have to admit that I was once a Facebook user) not many tell the truth.

Sad but it is a sign of the times.

[Rich 30]

4?

Thier vital stats? I'm not sure i've ever seen any women post that on facebook.

[Anonymous Coward]

just say NO

Go out and get a life and leave spacebook in the dust. you'll be better off and happier and get laid every day.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that I'm one to judge at all...

But do you think being an El Reg commentard is any more attractive?

[Anonymous Coward]

For crying out loud!

I was told that if I bow to social pressure and go with the crowd I would get laid, and I get laid ..... NOW if I don't bow to social pressure I GET LAID EVERY DAY!!!!!!

Stupid world :( it is too complicated, I am going back to World of Warcraft.

/me changes his status from "Engaged" to "Single"

[Jamie Jones]

funny

The only people I know in my age groups that use the internet and DON'T use facebook are saddo geeks with no social life, much, I expect like you Mr Coward.

My friends that do use facebook often use it to arrange social events and post photos of their partying

[Anonymous Coward]

I resent the implication that as an El Reg reader...

...I must be some kind of dateless wonder with no friends.

Now pass me the whisky, I've planned a busy evening touching myself and crying into my pot noodles.

[heyrick]

Dateless with few friends, none local...

And, you know, I like it just fine that way. There's no need for an "It's complicated" option in my life. I'm going to watch the New Year's do on BBC, then a few movies, then some ball drop in New York, then to bed. It might not fill you full of excitement, but then I'm not a genki guy. It's what I choose to do. Alone.

Of mildly more concern, to be honest, is people thinking that friendship is a matter of clicking a button to become "friends". Oh how that concept has been corrupted to its very core...

[Marcus Aurelius]

Facebook etiquette advice

Should I make a New Year booty call on my ex who just changed her state from "engaged to xxxx yyyy" to "single"?

[GeorgeTuk]

Yes yes, thrice yes!

And yes its bad but would make you feel better no?

[dssf]

xxxx yyyy

NNnnottt if those Xs and Ys are related to changed and injected chromosomes...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ave Marcus Aurelius

Go for it. Then you can say...

"I saw.

I conquered.

I came."

[Destroy All Monsters]

Why are there 17,229,885 deluded individuals?

Look! Up in the sky! It's an incoming drone strike. No it's an economy-destroying stimulus! No, its The WAR IN AFPAK!

[Anonymous Coward]

I was none of those mentioned.

No Facebook for the win.

[Kibble]

And how many

Facebook accounts were deleted over the past year?

[JustMathew]

Deleted?

Ummm.... none, nothing is ever deleted just deactivated...

[Neil Barnes]

What is this 'facebook'?

Something I should know about?

[Anonymous Coward]

I prefer to be...

Dateless, friendless and not on facebook but to hang around in server rooms all day than to engage with the vast majprty of the human race who are about as shallow as a puddle and do think friendships are made and broken by clicking 'friend' and 'unfriend' on a web page displayed on their PC/Mac or latest pocket device with mobile connectivity.

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't hang around in your server room!

There must be some non shallow people out there. At least I was told so.

[Grubby]

Translation

In a relationship - You sure? Check his status...

Single - You're on Facebook all day, what do you expect.

It's Complicated - One of us is definitely cheating.

Married - How far gone?! God okay then yes.

There should be relationship status's like:

Married but easy

5 Drinks away from yours

Married on World of Warcraft

[DataGenetics]

All the Single Ladies ...

The percentage of single people varies by age

http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/november32010/index.html

[A B 3]

It's just technology

Facebook is just modern tech becoming part of socialising. Calling Facebook users shallow and non FB users saddos is about the same as kids jostling for the alpha position of the group or separating into opposing groups.

I hook up with people in hobby/interests related context that way you have plenty to talk about.

I think the problem is us oldies seeing younger generations flipping off the old ways and only adopting something new and current. Fad based.

I wouldn't worry, the internet is becoming so commercialised that it will be no fun anymore, just a place to do online shopping and send emails.

[ghobson]

fake stats

It took me 60 seconds to make a fake gmail account and fake facebook account based on that email address, its to easy to make a fake facebook acount these days.

So mark my words alot of those facebook accounts are spam, and web traffic redirection..

[Anonymous Coward]

1 'friend' for every 4 messages?!

I'm worried about these stats, every 20 mins:

* 4,632,000 messages are sent,

* 1,972,000 friend requests are accepted.

So by my calculation, on average FB users have sent only just over 2 messages per 'Friend' they have?? eh? Sounds like FB is more like a game for seeing how many 'Friends' you can collect rather than actually communicating or socialising with friends.

Did I miss something?

[ghobson]

social games

You just described how Zynga games like farmville and cityville operate... want more virtual goods, get more neighbors, is pretty much how it works..

[Inachu]

DATING SITES FAIL

I specify who I want to date and then even though I personalized and saved my criteria I still get these emails sent from the dating sites showing so called compatible women who do not meet that criteria I setup.

So I created a new fake profile. I made him asian male looking for asian female.

The emails I get for compatible potential mates are all black women.

These email servers are pure fail when they do not meet requirements set forth by the user.

[J 3]

Anyway...

"what 'bookers do every 20 minutes"

I clicked on the link rather quickly expecting a juicier story, having mistaken the 'b' for another, nearby letter...

[Matt Piechota]

Heh.

It's funny, when having friends via computer (dial-up BBS, early internet) wasn't 'average' I seem to remember folks justifying how awesome it was because they interacted on intellect and whatnot. Now that everyone is doing it, it's lame and shallow and everyone is fake.

Here's a hint: most of the people on Facebook are, for better or worse, exactly who they appear to be. The few I know that use assumed names are teachers (avoiding school district snooping) or extreme privacy worriers. Of course, I have met every single person on my friends list, so maybe I'm not average.

[W. Keith Wingate]

Vin Diesel?

Is that the new Franco-German bio-fuel I keep hearing about?

[BomBom]

Help

My dog has just Unfriended me on Facebook! How did that happen?