People going through a divorce should have a solid plan in place before announcing their split on social media. In the past decade, it has become commonplace to share big life events on social media sites. In many ways, people may prefer announcing their divorce over social media rather than telling people in person. Social media allows partners to respectfully announce their divorce to a wide audience and spare themselves the pain of repeating the news over and over again.
What Is Important When Announcing a Divorce on Social Media?
When two people are announcing their divorce on social media, they should follow a few simple guidelines:
- Wait to post until both parties are ready
- Keep details to a minimum
- Consider unfriending and unfollowing
Waiting to Post
Neither party should post about their divorce until both are ready to make the announcement. To avoid hurt feelings and animosity, each person should respect the other’s need for privacy. Of course, an announcement has to happen at some point. However, waiting until both parties have had time to prepare themselves for public scrutiny is the considerate thing to do.
Keeping Details to a Minimum
Divorce often comes with hurt feelings and anger. However, the details of the divorce should stay between the couple. When a person shares details on social media in anger, he or she might end up regretting the post. It is virtually impossible to erase details from the internet once they have been posted. Even if a person deletes the post, friends, and family may still know things about the relationship that should have remained private.
Unfriending and Unfollowing
After the divorce, it may be helpful for the couple to unfriend and unfollow each other, their former in-laws, and even some friends on social media. It may be difficult for the parties to move on if they are constantly reminded of their former partner through social media.
Of course, if the couple shares children, unfriending each other may be more complicated. When children are involved, couples should agree on a plan for sharing information about their children on social media and whether they want to tag each other in the posts.
Agreements announcing the divorce and navigating sharing information about children on social media post-divorce can be complicated. A divorce lawyer can help a couple navigate the process with the least animosity possible.
