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Facebook Allows Users to 'Ask' About Each Other

Heather Luna | @heatherluna14 Facebook, the popular social networking platform, knows a lot about you. They know who your family and friends are, where you work, where you come from, and the things you’re interested in. However, there are things you can choose to keep private, like your workplace, contact information, and relationship status.

Children are always taught when you don’t know something, ask a question. Now Facebook has taken that lesson a step further with the ‘ask’ button. When a person sends a request, the user receives a notification saying that their friend requested certain information. The user can choose to ignore the request, respond only to that person, or put the information on their profile.

When a user chooses to leave something blank, like a relationship status, and they view their profile, nothing shows up. When their friends view their profile there is a spot for a relationship status. Instead, in place of the status, there is an ‘ask’ button.

"This feature provides an easy way for friends to ask you for information that's not already on your profile," says Facebook spokeswoman MoMo Zhou in an article on CNN.

The button not only asks them if they’re in a relationship, but it also asks them to list the status on their profile. If someone wanted their relationship status to be listed on their Facebook, they would do it without being asked. That is said about all personal information. You post on your profile what you want people to know, if it's not there, it’s not their business.

Why is this ‘ask’ button necessary if you can just send your friend a direct message or chat asking them if they are in a relationship and want to hang out? With the rise of online dating, Facebook is expanding to be a platform that can be used for all forms of networking. You can’t blame a company for that.