For a while facebook
used singular 'they' when it wanted to talk about someone who
had not specified their gender. So I would occasionally see updates
from friends that read like "John Smith is mad at their sister" or
"Jane Doe is happy with themself". I'm ok with singular 'they' as I
used it in the first sentence of this paragraph, and facebook's
usage seemed strange even to me. As a comprimise, though, I thought
it was reasonable.
Apparently facebook changed this about a year ago. They claimed
that translation into other languages didn't work for ungendered
people. Sadness; I liked how gramatically progressive facebook was
being.
Referenced in: Singular They And Social Networking: Google Plus
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