Recall the days when you’d “poke” your friends on Facebook to grab their attention, playfully annoy them, or ignite a poke war? Well, Facebook is endeavoring to revive that experience with some subtle updates to the poking feature.
The company announced recently that it has enhanced the platform’s suggestions for whom to poke and has streamlined the process of finding the poking page via search. Moreover, Facebook has introduced the option to poke a friend directly when searching for them on the social network.
According to Facebook, these minor adjustments have triggered a 13x increase in poking activity in the past month. Despite many not having experienced the initial poke craze, younger users are starting to adopt the feature. Facebook observes that over 50% of pokes are now coming from individuals aged 18 to 29.
Poking is among Facebook’s oldest features, dating back to the platform’s inception in 2004, but it was tucked away in the navigation once its popularity waned. Facebook never explicitly defined the purpose of poking, leaving it open to users’ interpretation, with some using it as a form of flirtation.
Now, as the company resurfaces the feature in celebration of the social network’s 20th anniversary, it’s presenting it as a simple way to greet a friend.
You might be wondering, “I haven’t poked someone in over a decade, why start now?” Instead, consider asking yourself, “Why not?”
