There have been plenty of humiliating ends to relationships over the years, but nothing torpedoes a budding romance faster than a social media faux pas. From unearthing your S.O.'s secret Instagram account to discovering tweets never meant for your eyes, dating in the 21st century makes breaking up via text (or even Post It) seem kind. Check out these 10 stinging stories real women shared with Shape.
Not Very Professional
"I’d been dating a guy for about a month, and things were going great. We were seeing each other at least four times a week, he kept mentioning how he’d never felt like this about a woman before, and I was pretty sure he was The One. That is, until I got a message from him asking to be his friend on LinkedIn. I responded, then looked through his connections—one was a woman with the same last name as him. Because I’m curious, I did some digging—I assumed it was his sister. No, based on a Google search, it was his wife. Of course, I immediately called him out—and he insulted me, calling me a stalker!" -Kelly, 31
So…Guess We’re Not “Friends”?
"I’d been dating a guy for three months when we got into a bad argument. We decided that we’d talk the next day, when we were both calmer. By the time I got home, I checked Facebook, where I saw he’d updated his status: 'Well, guess I’m single again. Blergh.' Seriously? I never thought we’d broken up—I just assumed we were in the middle of a fight!" -Annabelle, 26
The Language of Breakups is Universal
“I met a cute guy in Croatia while I was traveling, and we were having so much fun hanging out that I decided to cancel my hostel reservation for the rest of the week and stay at his place. Then, I checked his Facebook. The status updates were in Croatian, but I ran them through Google translate because I was curious what was on his mind. Big mistake: He had postedseveral statuses complaining about how annoying I was being!” -Ashley, 28
Swipe Left
“I’d been dating my then-boyfriend for six months when I started playing on my friend’s Tinder account. She was single, and I was curious how the whole thing worked. And within five people, I ran into a photo of my boyfriend. Worse: I’d been the one to take the picture!” -Molly, 24
Potential “Friends” Shouldn’t Be Superficial
"I’d been dating a guy for about a month when I looked for him on Facebook. We’d mutually decided that it was too early to officially 'friend' each other, but I decided there was nothing wrong with a little digging. What I found: A page that wasn’t locked down on private, and a cute photo of him and me from a date. A little weird, but what was worse were the comments below the photo, where my guy wrote 'Yeah, she’s a little chunky, but she’s cute, right?' Needless to say, we never did make it 'Facebook official.'” -Samantha, 32
Tweet and Tell
"After what I thought was a fun date with a new guy, I turned to Internet intel and found his Twitter feed. His last Tweet was right after our date: Why is it that girls who look slutty never go home with me? I resisted the urge to Tweet back: Maybe because they aren’t turned on by super creeps. Needless to say, I never saw him again." -Lexi, 27
Bad Date, Take Two
"I’ve been on and off various dating sites for years, and occasionally I end up seeing guys I’ve gone on dates with in the past. Normally, I recognize and ignore them. One time, I agreed to go to drinks with what I thought was a new cute guy who had messaged me. When I walked into the bar, I greeted him warmly. He laughed bitterly and said 'So, now that you’re still single and getting desperate, you’re willing to hang out with me, huh?' Turns out, he and I had gone on one date five years ago and had zero chemistry. Not only had he held a grudge, but after he said that, he was surprised when I turned around to leave—he seriously thought I had wanted to see him again!" -Jess, 29
Never Getting Back Together
I always used to think it was weird when couples stopped being friends on social media, especially when they had mutual friends in common. So even though your breakup wasn’t great, I didn’t delete my ex as a friend … until he started snidely commenting on our breakup on a lot of mutual friends’ status updates. For example, a friend would post about making dinner with their significant other, and he would chime in and say something like at least Lauren knows how to chop an onion without calling her mom. Needless to day, I de-friended and blocked. I don’t know if he still does online dating, but at least I don’t have to see it." -Michelle, 31
Nope, I’m Just Ignoring You
"I went on about six dates with a guy before I decided that there just wasn’t enough chemistry to continue seeing him. I broke it off over text (I know, I know …). He started messaging me on on Gmail, Twitter … and finally even LinkedIn! His LinkedIn message asked me if I was ignoring him or if I just hadn’t seen his other messages. Seriously? Why would I not be checking my e-mail, but be checking my LinkedIn? It didn’t make sense and made me even more certain that I’d made the right decision to get out of the relationship when I did." -Ellen, 24
One Date, Two Identities
"I met a guy on Tinder whose name was Nick. He and I exchanged e-mail addresses after the first date. His e-mail handle included his first and last name. Not much came up when I Googled him, but a Facebook page with his photo came up, so I didn’t think much of it. About a month later, he told me he had something to tell me. Turns out, his real name was completelydifferent than what he’d given me. He said that he created a fake name and Facebook page to protect him from creeps while dating—not realizing that his behavior was what was creepy!" -Summer, 26
