my fiance did the same thing to me. i had been friends with him for about 2 weeks and finally agreed to go on a date with him, before our second date occured he had asked for me to approve a relationship status change. I didn't, not right away. I saved the option there and saw how it went over the next few dates. I was also very hesitant and didn't want to rush into things. So all his FB friends saw him as in a relationship while I maintained a single status until I approved that request.

After about a month I agreed that it was working and approved the status request and was in a relationship. To me I really didnt care what he said to his friends, because if it really wasnt going to work, well he was just going to appear to be a trigger happy idiot to his friends, and I probably wouldn't see him again, sad but honest truth unfortunately. As far as my friends were concerned, it was up to me whether I wanted them to see me as single or in a relationship on Facebook. They all knew my troubles and hesitations with relationships and knew that if I updated it, it would be on my own terms and if it didnt work out, they would be there for me and say :" yeah you know what, things happen, lets go out and have a girls night. "

I hope this helps