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Historically, January has long been known as the month during which dissatisfied spouses would file for a divorce. Over the past few years, though, it also seems to be the time when cynical law firms ‘spin’ figures in order to compile dramatic and, ultimately, misleading press releases. This year, we’re once again being subjected to how social media site Facebook is being cited in a third of all divorce petitions. The logical inference of this is, of course, that Facebook is accountable or at least partly responsible for the demise of a third of all the marriages that don’t last. Is this really the case? Well, as has been noted previously, there would be little reason for Facebook (and therefore the actions that a spouse has engaged in) to be cited within a divorce petition unless the spouse filing the divorce was relying on either their spouse having committed adultery or their unreasonable behaviour. According to Grant Thornton’s most recent survey (2013) survey, these reasons were relied upon in just 37 per cent of divorce petitions. Historically, such press releases have exploited the fact that these grounds are colloquially known as 'blame-based’ grounds by reporting on the number of times that Facebook is mentioned in these petitions and not including those relying on what are commonly referred to as ‘non-fault’ based grounds.  As a result, Facebook is not mentioned in a third of all divorce petitions, but is actually referred to in a third of a third (11 per cent) of all petitions. Additionally, the divorce rate in England or Wales has by no means peaked as a result of the proliferation of Facebook. Indeed, the divorce rate mat have fluctuated in recent years (slight increases on the previous year were reported in 2010 and 2012), but it has generally been declining over the last decade.  If there truly was a correlation between Facebook usage and divorce then it would be reasonable to assume that the divorce rate would have increased dramatically. In short, people that use Facebook are not any more likely to divorce than those that do not. So, please browse and connect with friends and old acquaintances freely. Using it to flirt with people other than your spouse or engage in adulterous behaviour makes it more likely that your marriage will end in divorce, of course, but , then, that’s down to the individual; not a website!