So, the question here that we need to ask is: when should you FB friend request someone you're dating? This is a tricky question with some tricky answers. Here's what most singles think is acceptable when it comes to social media, specifically Facebook and starting to date someone new.

Social media when it comes to dating can either be a great thing or a terrible one. Let's face it, social media is here to stay and it makes dating in today's world quite different from how things 'used' to be. Dating in the past meant getting to know someone by actually spending time with them and talking to each other in person. But with social media and the advancement of technology, it has become easy for two people to get to know each other significantly before ever meeting. When you're single and you're looking to date today you can simply turn to social media to see how successful or unsuccessful it can be. Of course, it's not the same as talking to each other in person because you can't truly communicate emotions, your personality or your feelings and know that they are going to come across in the right way.

Chatting online through social media is also extremely impersonal, which means you can easily miss out as someone great slips through your fingers because you aren't chatting face to face. There's always a story in your Facebook feed about someone who has gone out on a terrible date or had that best date EVER and thanks to social media everyone knows about it. With information being shared so quickly and easily today you have a big decision to make, to you keep your personal life quiet or do you share it with the world. If you decide to share it with the world the easiest way to do so seem to be through your Facebook news feed posts and your Facebook relationship status'.

It's clear that social media is here to stay so the key question you need to ask yourself is: When should you Facebook request someone you're dating? Check out our suggestions below before you jump the gun and make a mistake you'll quickly regret. Social media isn't always great for our love lives. It's easy to become a bit of a facebook stalker checking the person's Facebook constantly and obsessing over things that don't mean anything. You can easily misinterpret what you see or read causing undue anger or jealousy for no reason. Not to mention that we share things on facebook with people we know and trust, that new person that you're dating may not understand that your best friend is the opposite sex and they for sure don't understand your jokes among your inner circle yet.

Many singles decide to Facebook friend request or follow their date on Twitter or Instagram immediately after the first date. Likely this happened right after they said goodbye, as in they were still walking away from the date and hadn't even made it home yet. Of course, this only happens if the first date went well and if it didn't some singles told us that they've even blocked their date from being able to find them on Facebook or any other social media for that matter. Deciding to become Facebook friends this quickly may prove to be a bad idea. According to our research, less than 15 percent of these 'relationships' lasted longer than a year, most of these 'relationships' actually only lasted for less than a month and a few of them, 20 percent of the singles we asked, lasted between 1 and 6 months.

It's a great idea to check someone out online before a first date, for example, you can easily 'google' their name to see what shows up about them. Anything that's ever been posted with their name on the internet will pop up in your search results. You may be able to see their Facebook profile depending on their privacy settings. Sending them an FB friend request before the actual date might prove to be a bit uncomfortable or weird. It seems that according to many daters we spoke with, about one-quarter of them tend to do this to begin to develop a relationship prior to the actual first date. Many singles say that it helps them to feel more comfortable and at ease for when the first date actually approaches.

Several singles stated that by sending a Facebook friend request before the first date and actually becoming friends before makes it far easier to see if you're a good match for each other and helps to get some of the awkward first date things out of the way before you even meet. Becoming friends before means you can talk about what you both do for a living, what you like to do in your spare time, what you're looking for in someone else and all the other things singles talk about on a first date. It makes your actual first date more like a second or third, and you actually to know each other more intimately say many of the singles we spoke with. Our study found that most singles who Facebook friend request each other prior to the first date do not have relationships that last more than 6 months. In fact less than 20 percent last more than 6 months. It looks like perhaps it's not the best idea to become friends with someone before you even go out on a first date together.

Waiting to FB friend request someone you're dating can prove to be the best thing for your relationship. Patience can prove to be good for your love life in so many ways and that includes waiting to become friends on Facebook. Far too much is misinterpreted on social media and that plays a big part in ruining new relationships before they even begin. Deciding to wait to become friends and eventually making your relationship status "Facebook official" is not only a good idea, it's healthy for your new relationship. Your new partner doesn't need to see all of the embarrassing things you've done in your past before they realize that you're a great catch and vice versa. It only makes sense that you would want to show your potential new mate that you are an amazing person before they can find things that may steer them away from you.

When you first start dating someone new, you don't want to be reminded of their past relationships constantly by seeing pictures of the ex with them all over Facebook. You need to give your new mate some time to get rid of those pictures or at least explain them to you. Plus don't forget if you're looking at their pictures of exes, they're likely looking at yours as well and making judgments that you don't want them to. It's important that you wait to become Facebook friends so that you both have time to share the information that you want to with each other before there are any misinterpretations.

It may take some time for you to introduce someone that you're dating to your family and friends because it's a big step. When you introduce your date to these important people in your life you're letting them know that they mean something to you and that you expect him/her to be around for awhile. Essentially it's admitting to commitment without having to actually say it, likewise, if you're not sure about the relationship this is a step that you are going to avoid for as long as you can. Friending someone you're dating speeds this step up quite a bit, you are essentially allowing this potential partner into your inner circle, your personal life and you're allowing them to see how you interact and relate to people who are close to you.

Social media has more power than any one of us can imagine and then throw in all that goes with trying to get to know someone new who you are looking to build a relationship with. Although we don't realize it, we share a lot of personal information on Facebook even if you never make a personal post of our own. What we share and what we like and comment on tell people a lot about who we are even if we don't realize it. If you have strong opinions and someone new that you are dating doesn't agree with them you best not Facebook friend them until your relationship is more solid than when you've just met or only gone on a few dates. The last thing that you want is to turn someone off of pursuing a relationship with you or vice versa because of a rant, political view or religious beliefs that you've posted or they've posted all over Facebook. It's best to wait a bit for you to become friends with your new someone until they understand who you are a bit better and you're both starting to actually get each other. Being able to talk about these issues prior to friending someone on Facebook gives you both the opportunity to actually discuss and give explanations for topics that you know you need to have a one on one conversation about.

Dating is hard and dating in a world full of social media is especially hard, confusing and even stressful. So adding Facebook to the mix makes things even more difficult. You have to be sure not to read into everything that you read and see on his or her Facebook page. Overanalyzing everything that you see posted is just going to drive you crazy and will likely put a huge halt to your new relationship before it even gets off the ground. You will find yourself wondering why his or her friends liked the post of a photo with an ex when you know that pic was posted when things were already on the rocks with them or you'll wonder if a recent status update that they posted was about you or not. Make sure that you make the right choice to not put yourself through this misery and instead wait to add your new potential boyfriend or girlfriend as a Facebook friend until you are positive that the relationship is headed in the right direction.

When you start dating someone new, you want to really get to know them and base how you feel about them on your first-hand experience rather than what you see, read and read into on Facebook. Many people have Facebook profiles that could be misleading if you don't know enough about the person and can end up leading to a lot of confusion, hurt feelings and in the end a failed relationship for no good reason. So, the bottom line here is that you need to do yourself and your potential relationship some good and AVOID sending a Facebook friend request to someone you are dating until you are sure that this new relationship is going somewhere that is in the right direction. Do not under any circumstances send a Facebook friend request to someone that you have literally just started talking to, it's important that you actually get to spend some time together to get to know each other in person first before you connect via any social media outlet.

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