Facebook caused more divorce heartache in 2011 via UK Divorce From Divorce-Online

Apparently, divorce proceedings in the UK increasingly involve mention of Facebook, either as a cause of discord or as proof of inappropriate behavior:

via UK Divorce From Divorce-Online

A survey carried out by uk divorce website www.divorce-online.co.uk in December 2009 found that 20% of behaviour petitions contained the word “Facebook.”.

A follow up survey in December 2011 has found that number has alarmingly increased during 2011 to 33% of behaviour allegations in petitions. 5000 petitions were queried as in the 2009 sample.

The most common reasons where Facebook was cited as evidence were once again relating to spouses behaviour with the opposite sex but also spouses using Facebook to make comments about their exes once they had separated and using their public walls as weapons in their divorce battle.

Top three reasons.

1) Inappropriate messages to members of the opposite sex.

2) Separated spouses posting nasty comments about each other.

3) Facebook friends reporting spouse’s behaviour.

Twitter only appeared in 20 petitions as part of behaviour allegations, and again it was the use of twitter as a communication tool to make comments about exes that featured in most tweets.

I guess Twitter just isn’t as tactile a medium as Facebook.

And similar trends are going on in the US, too:

An overwhelming 81% of the nation’s top divorce attorneys say they have seen an increase in the number of cases using social networking evidence during the past five years, according to a recent [February 2010] survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML). Facebook holds the distinction of being the unrivaled leader for online divorce evidence with 66% citing it as the primary source.

[…]

Overall, 81% of AAML members cited an increase in the use of evidence from social networking websites during the past five years, while just 19% said there was no change. Facebook is the primary source of this type of evidence according to 66% of the AAML respondents, while MySpace follows with 15%, Twitter at 5%, and other choices listed by 14%.

(h/t futuramb)