I'm Working on Erasing You, Just Don't Have the Proper Tools: Supporting Online Identity Management After the End of Romantic Relationships

Abstract

After a break-up, people are left with data representative of their lost relationship - pictures, posts, and connections that exist because of that relationship. As part of breaking up and moving on, people often make decisions about managing that data. Prior work has identified two broad types of curatorial philosophies people adopt in data management: archivists and revisionists. However, what drives individuals to one approach remains unknown and is difficult to design sociotechnical systems for. Through focus group interviews with couples still together, we present a decision-making framework for data management. We outline factors that can influence individuals' decision to act as an archivist or revisionist in the wake of a break-up. From our data and framework, we identify six implications for design to improve user experiences in the wake of a break-up, and from those implications, offer concrete suggestions for design for social media platforms.