You’re easily the cutest couple on campus, but does it even matter if you aren’t “Facebook official”?

These days, love is not only in the air but on the web too. Whether you tag a mate in your relationship status update for show, or for some other mushy reasons best kept private, becoming Facebook official is a decision that some partners are enamored with.

San Diego State business management senior Katrina Barlahan thinks couples should take the initiative.

“If you’re both active on Facebook, it should be official,” Barlahan said. “With my boyfriend, I made him do it just because there are lots of girls that talk to him and don’t know that he’s in a relationship. He’s a Marine, so lots of girls try to hit on him.”

However, not all students think it is a mandatory move to make. SDSU biology junior Kirbi Olson said making a relationship official on Facebook depends on “Part of it is the seriousness of the relationship, and how long it has been going,” Olson said. “To me, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t use Facebook that much. But if the other person wants it, I don’t normally have a problem with it. I’m just not the kind of person to say, ‘Oh my god, we have to be FBO.’”

Being Facebook official is more than just an update to the newsfeed. It shows which people are off the market in the dating scene, telling the occasional Facebook stalker to back off. It also puts partners on public display, which is often the desired outcome of changing relationship statuses. For some individuals, however, changing a relationship status can be a little too public. Computer science senior Brianna Dueñas said she was tentative about making the move.

“At first I didn’t put it up for two months,” Dueñas said. “Because I feel like sometimes people are nosy and are like, ‘Who are you with?’ For me, it wasn’t a big deal, butforhimitwasandsoweputit on Facebook.”

Other couples meet on common ground when becoming Facebook official, saying it matters equally to both parties.

“It was definitely a mutual thing,” SDSU psychology sophomore Jasmine Perez said. “If either of us didn’t have it up, it would kind of seem like we don’t want others to know.”

There are many possible reasons why certain Facebook users place higher value on their online relationship status, but for some SDSU students, it is a way to mark territory.

“With Greek life being such a big deal at San Diego State, everyone wants everyone to know who they’re with,” Olson said. “It’s more of a possessive and territorial thing than anything.”

SDSU marketing sophomore Joachim Skov has his own thoughts on changing a Facebook relationship status, saying it is unnecessary.

“I’m quite against it actually. If you want to express your love, there are ways to do that other than over Facebook. Being Facebook official is all about the status and showing people that you are occupied,” Skov said. “But, when it goes wrong, all the other people are going to notice as well, and that’s where the problem is.”

Going public online does have its drawbacks. Facebook is without a doubt a place where everyone is under the watch of those they are connected with, and that fact should be taken into consideration. An unfortunate side of becoming Facebook official is friends, family, coworkers and other people can scrutinize the relationship status.

Another side to the official relationship status is, of course, being lovey-dovey on each other’s profiles. You wouldn’t change your status if you didn’t want to let the rest of the world know who you’re dating. This is an accepted fact, but is there a line that needs to be drawn for online affection?

Buisness marketing sophomore Lindsey Mason, definitely thinks so, and said some couples go too far when showing their affection online.

“People will post messages all the time on each other’s walls when they could just as easily call or text the person,” Mason said. “They just want everybody to see it, and it’s unnecessary.”

The importance of being Facebook official varies from person to person. For some, it is a matter of whether or not their significant other wants to do it. It can also depend on the individual’s amount of Facebook use. But for others, it is a mandatory move to validate a couple’s status.

“Everybody uses Facebook, it’s part of life, basically,” Perez said.