Scientists have discovered through new research the subtle signs that on social media that mean you're about to get dumped before you even know it.

Over a million posts about relationships by 7,000 Reddit users were analyzed by a team led by doctoral student Sarah Seraj at the University of Texas, Austin.

Each of the subjects was chosen because they were discussing breaking up with a long-term partner.

In an interview with the Daily Star, Seraj said that the people in question were either about to do the dumping or be dumped themselves.

A person using a phone. [[imagecaption|| Credit: Pexels]]

Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC) was used to analyze several posts they made in the months leading up to the breakup.

"A lot of them didn’t see it coming," Seraj said, before adding that there were clues in the language used prior to the relationship ending.

Towards the end of a break-up, the subjects began to use certain words less on social media, namely, "a" "the" "in" and "at" – which are all associated with analytical thinking.

According to the researchers, the use of these words indicate that the person's thinking was "typically dispassionate and cold, where the person lays out a problem in a reasoned way".

Meanwhile, the words "I" and "we" began to feature more often in their posts.

The research also found that the longer a person dwelled on the relationship they had lost, the harder it was for them to get over it.

"Rehashing their stories may have made it harder for them to heal," Seraj added.

A couple on a bench. [[imagecaption|| Credit: Pexels]]

In short, the more personal and informal language used, the more imminent the breakup was.

"It seems that even before people are aware that a break-up is going to happen, it starts to affect their lives," Seraj said.

"The same linguistic changes appeared even when people weren't talking about their relationship."

Seraj said that the final sign that a breakup is on the horizon is an increase in the use of vocabulary associated with "cognitive processing".

So, if you or a friend is in a relationship that feels like it's going south, you might want to pay close attention to the language the other person is using on social media!

Scientists reveal subtle signs on social media that could mean you're about to get dumped