When was the last time you were poked on Facebook?
The feature has endured since the early days of the social media platform. Originally intended as a way to reach out to other users without sending a message or any meaningful content, it’s been the focus of soft relaunches in 2017 and 2024.
Now, Meta is pushing it again as a way to maintain connections with friends, or maybe even flirt. As interest seems to be rising among younger Facebook users, poking is clinging to life and could become a thing again, according to TechCrunch.
Facebook has a centralized poke page at facebook.com/pokes where you can view who’s poked you, who you’ve poked and who Meta’s algorithm thinks should be the target of your next poking. Updates to the poke feature might not yet appear for everyone, though. Meta is planning a global rollout for the new features.
Plans for the poke include indicators for poke counts, the option to dismiss pokes and emoji badges similar to those on platforms like Snapchat and TikTok.
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Why poke now?
A Meta executive told CNET that the poke feature is one way for the company’s platforms to reach a younger audience.
“People, especially young adults, are craving easier ways to connect,” said Ime Archibong, vice president of product management at Meta. “The beauty of poke is it’s an effortless way to show your friends you’re thinking about them, and the meaning is up to you.”
In addition to the poke landing page, Archibong said it’ll be easier to get to poke from Facebook profile pages and the Friends tab.
“We have seen positive early results in adoption among US/Canada young adults (aged 18-29) in our prelaunch tests,” Archibong said. “We’re excited to launch these updates globally.”
What exactly is a poke?
One marketing expert says it might be more useful if Facebook finally explained the meaning of a poke, rather than leaving it up to the people using the feature.
“Facebook has never really explained exactly what poking is or what it’s good for,” said David B. Wright, the founder of W3 Group Marketing. “A poke won’t go viral. There’s no attention-grabbing element, no hook, nothing aside from the poke itself to gain the attention of one person.”
Wright said that the poke feature needs to be well-promoted and have some strategy behind it in order to gain traction among younger users.
“Facebook has more data on each and every one of us than pretty much any other organization. It should more thoroughly use this data to determine and test what people actually want and need,” Wright said.
“To make it more successful this time around, perhaps they should be more clear about its purpose and what the various elements (the poke itself, tracking poke counts, gamification elements, and so on) are to make it more than just another barely used feature,” he said.
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