Kate Mills
Mar 21, 2024
Ever wondered what Poking was introduced by Facebook for? If you did, then what did you take it for? Well, that is something we're not going to delve into, so let's let it stay a mystery for the time being.
What's newsworthy is that the company has recently announced to revive the feature with slight changes, enhancements and additions to how it works. When it was first released almost two decades back, the feature was taken by some users as a way to to annoy someone or get their attention, whereas, others took it as a way to flirt.
As far as the purpose of Poking is concerned, even Facebook, the company, never defined what was the reason behind Poking on Facebook since its inception. Given that, Poking got subject to individuality on Facebook, meaning that every single Facebook user interpreted it as they please.
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Nevertheless, as the feature is about to resurface around the social network’s 20th birthday, it's usage and purpose could remain vague as before, but Meta, during the announcement of its reintroduction, said it as a way to say “hi” to your friends.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, with Meta saying that it has recently enhanced the platform's recommendations for who to poke and has also simplified the process of finding the poking page through search. Additionally, Facebook has introduced the capability to poke a friend when searching for them on the social network.
According to Facebook, these minor adjustments have resulted in a 13x increase in poking activity in the last month. Despite many of them not being present during the initial rise of poking, young users are beginning to adopt the feature, with Facebook noting that over 50% of pokes are coming from individuals aged 18 to 29.
Poking is one of Facebook's oldest features, originating from the platform's inception in 2004, but it was hidden in the navigation after its popularity waned. Facebook never explicitly defined the purpose of poking and left it open to users' interpretation, with some using it as a means of flirting.
