As if Facebook’s “Relationship Status” wasn’t awkward enough, the company has quietly rolled out a new Ask button that lets users ask friends if they’re single and ready to mingle. The button appears next to categories of a user’s about section that have been left blank.
This means that if you've been eyeing someone on the social networking website who has not disclosed their relationship status, you can now use the new Ask button to send a message to the person asking them their status or perhaps if they want to go out for a date.
When you click the Ask button, a small popup window appears prompting you to add a note explaining why you want to know this particular information. Once your request is received by the other party, they can choose to provide the information or simply ignore you.
Users must be friends with the person in order for the Ask button to appear.
Keeping in mind the continuing success of online dating sites and Facebook's huge user base, the feature shouldn't come as a surprise, except for the fact that there is no way to turn it off.
A Facebook spokesperson told ArsTechnica that the company has been rolling out the feature in waves to some users since January.
According to Mashable, the first part of the rollout allowed you to ask for information like phone numbers, email addresses, current city, hometown and place of employment, but the relationship status component is new.
