With over one billion users, Facebook has probably the largest population of any advertiser from which to sample for research purposes. Out of this research has come some fascinating results: facebook has discovered a pretty good predictor of whether or not your relationship will end and, with a little reverse engineering, you know what to do to make your relationship last.

According to facebook, if your significant other’s friends are also your friends, then its more likely that your relationship will stand the test of time. The actual word for state of ‘my friends are you friends and your friends are my friends’ is “dispersion.” High dispersion between a couple has many mutual friends, low dispersion means few mutual friends.

The results of the survey state:

People with high dispersion, meaning they have a lot of mutual friends, were more likely to stick together than those with lower dispersion

A couple declared “in a relationship” on Facebook who had lower dispersion rates were 50 percent more likely to break up over the next two months than a couple with a high dispersion rate. The researchers tracked users every two months for two years

Thus one can deduce from this information that if your boyfriend isn’t introducing you to his friends then this does not bode well for your relationship

So if you want all of that kissing in a tree your doing to end up in the land of marriage and baby carriage, you need to make sure that you and your significant other become enmeshed in each other’s circle. You need to meet his friends, co-workers, and family. His social circle and your social circle need to do more than a little bit of overlapping.

Once you become friends with your boyfriends mates’ in real life, then you can friend them on facebook–or at least that’s probably what Facebook hopes will happen.
___________________

Jamila Akil is a Community Manager at Beyond Black and White. Follow her on Twitter @jamilaakil