A study recently conducted by researchers at Facebook and Cornell noticed a trend among couples and the amount of mutual friends between them: the more mutual friends, the more likely they were to stay together. The researchers analyzed the networks of thousands of Facebookers anonymously, and looked at the data between couples to measure patterns.

One part of the study analyzed a couple’s “weak ties” and “strong ties,” which were classified as friendships with lots of time spent together and mutual connections versus friendships with few mutual friendships and low interaction. It was essentially a look at close friends versus acquaintances, determined with Facebook data.

One of the findings of the study was that as relationships progress, they become better “structurally,” meaning their network of mutual friends grows. The study also found that online interaction decreases over time – couples look at each others’ profile pages and interact with the content there less and less. This proves that there is an online honeymoon phase with couples, as if we didn’t already know.

The study found a jump in a couple’s “embeddedness” at the moment they announce they’re married. This means that couples experience a lot of mutual Facebook activity and “friending” when they tie the knot:

The researchers’ greatest accomplishment was arguably their ability to predict a couple’s longevity after identifying patterns in their weak and strong ties. They performed the predictions on a subset of data of people in “relationships” (not married or engaged) among users in a similar demographic.

The study concludes with a blanket statement that relationships grow stronger as two people transition through life stages together and/or are introduced to one another’s intimate social circles (close friends and family).

As your bond with your significant other strengthens, the likelihood that you’ll last increases….just don’t go friending his or her friend list, because that’ll probably cause it to end sooner rather than later.