Mathias Mikkelsen recently summarized a portion of a TED Talk by David McCandless, wherein McCandless described the frequency of break-ups over a year as extrapolated from Facebook status updates. Take a look at the visualization of the data McCandless found:

Frequency of Break-Ups Throughout the Year

As Mikkelsen notes, the massive quantity of digital information now available is what makes this sort of thing possible.

I do have to wonder about the peak on April Fools’ Day, though. How exactly do you convince your boyfriend or girlfriend that you’re serious?

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