At 24, I’ve never been “In a Relationship.”

Hang on. I’m not THAT socially awkward. I have been in a relationship. I’ve just never been “In a Relationship” on Facebook.

Facebook, the internet social networking site created and launched by a Harvard drop-out in 2004, has 64 million users today. It got its name from college “facebooks” — actual printed booklets given to freshmen with mugs of other students and faculty which are supposed to help them get to know people on campus. (Personally, we just used ours to look up cute guys…)

Facebook used to only be open to students at certain colleges. But as of Sept. 2006, it is now open to anyone over 13. Anyone who signs up for a Facebook account can message other Facebook users, write on others’ pages (”the wall”), or list their favorite books, movies and quotes alongside millions and millions of pictures of themselves.

But on this Valentine’s Day, Facebook is changing — or complicating — the dating scene with features that allow individuals to publicize their relationship status. One feature allows two people to show on each of their pages that they are “In a Relationship.” (Useful if you’re browsing the site for attractive singles.)

Besides “In a Relationship,” you also have the option of choosing “Married,” “Engaged,” “In an Open Relationship” or “It’s Complicated.”

All of those options are not as binding as the last option, which shows “In a Relationship” and then adds “with,” after which you can add the name of the person you are seeing. In order to show the “with” option, both people must agree that they want to make it “Facebook official.”

The wonderful — and complicated — thing about this is that Facebook doesn’t discriminate. For example, I could be “Married to” my best girl friend tomorrow, as long as she agreed.

Right now, one of my guy friends is “In an Open Relationship” with Jessica Biel.

You can imagine that this can be used for good as well as evil. Two of my friends, a guy and a girl, went to Bangkok for spring break last year, took tons of pictures together, changed their Facebook “relationship status” and convinced everyone that they had gotten engaged. The next day she received dozens of messages: “You look so HAPPY! This is soooo exciting! CONGRATS!!!”

That’s actually hilarious and harmless. But according to this article, obsessions with checking Facebook, especially your partner’s page, can promote jealously in long-distance relationships if one person suspects the other may be receiving too many messages from other Facebook users — especially if the other users are cute.

Photos can be another source of problems. For your stalking convenience, another feature allows you to view all pictures posted on Facebook in which a certain person appears. I’ve heard of relationships going to pieces after a friend posted risque photos of someone’s significant other having a little too much fun over spring break.

For myself personally, I avoid posting my relationship status on Facebook or dozens of photos of myself and my significant other, because I believe things like that don’t really need to be publicized. Posting my relationship status, determining whether we’re serious (or not serious) enough to be in a relationship as well as “In a Relationship,” seems to me to be just one more complication in the already complicated game of love.

I can only imagine what Facebook is doing to high school relationships, where the idea of being “official” is everything — even if it’s just a label. When I was in high school, two people could walk past each other in the halls, barely talk, never go on dates and still be “in a relationship.” Now they can do all that AND be Facebook official!

Regardless of where you got your news today, the blogosphere was abuzz with the news about Coach June Jones leaving Hawaii to accept a 5-year, $2-million contract at Southern Methodist University.

That was followed by word that UH Athletics Director Herman Frazier might be leaving, too.

For a lot of people, including many of my friends, the news about Jones seemed to ruin their entire day.

I was scrolling through some of the blog comments (the legendary Warrior Beat had about 1,000 today alone), and it’s interesting to see the reaction and some of the questions now swirling around about the future of the U.H. Athletics Department.

A friend summed it up most accurately with a play on an AP headline in his away message:

“AP: Hawaii in chaos.” Hm. Sounds about right.

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Leaving Hawaii aside for a minute, we’re also on the eve of the first primary of 2008, where New Hampshire residents will select their Democratic and Republican nominees for president and unlimited media attention will be showered upon the small New England state, which I never had any trouble locating in high school geography because it is shaped like a leg of ham.

Yes, think about it.

There’s a good article in the New York Times tomorrow about the surprising presence of young voters in Iowa, and in general, younger support for two candidates in particular: Barack Obama and John McCain.

According to the NYT, in Iowa, 57 percent of voters ages 17 to 24 said Barack Obama was their first choice, compared with 14 percent for John Edwards and 10 percent for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Anyone who’s been following the election on sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube probably noticed a correlation between the strength of candidates’ online presence and their strength in Iowa last week.

The NYT’s Katharine Seelye has a piece on it today.

Is there really a link? Well, check out these graphs from Tech President: one shows viewership on YouTube per candidate, the other shows number of “friends” on Facebook. Obama is far ahead in both.

One of the great things about internet campaigning is that it’s suddenly made the race more interesting and more accessible to young people in particular. Most candidates are realizing that, and Obama is running full speed ahead with it.

The Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary traditionally predict who will do well as the election moves forward, but until this presidential election, we maybe haven’t considered linking internet presence to which candidate will do well.

As the generation which is considered the most tech-savvy, that affects us directly. A lot of people are skeptical about how the numbers will translate since — hey, let’s face it — our generation doesn’t vote.

But who knows. Perhaps this is our chance to prove them wrong.