Facebook Gives ‘Poke’ a New Life

What does it mean to “ poke ” someone on Facebook ? Is it flirty , well-disposed , or even annoying ? The response is all of the above , and somehow , none at all . The ambiguous feature article was largely invisible for many years , but now Facebook is report a 13x spike in prod in the last calendar month .

“ THE POKE IS HAVING A MOMENT , ” said Facebook in all caps onThreads . “ There ’s been a 13x stiletto heel in poking on Facebook in the retiring calendar month . So , be honest : who ’s poking who ? ”

Facebook made a few small changes that are responsible for for the monolithic increment in trailer , first report byTechCrunchTuesday . The companionship made it easier to find the poking page through lookup , and Facebook also meliorate the platform ’s suggestions on who to horn in . Reportedly , more than 50 % of these pokes are coming from users aged 18 - 29 . Many of these vernal users are probably experiencing pokes for the first clip , as they probably were n’t on the platform when pokes first came out .

Photo: Alena TS (Shutterstock)

But the inquiry remains : what even is a paper bag ? And what does it imply ? The poking has been around since Facebook ’s inception in 2004 , and it ’s always been unclear what the characteristic even is . It never went aside , but I personally have n’t heard of anyone poking in the last five year .

A Gizmodo clause from 2014 result a reader ’s question aboutwhether Pokes are creepy-crawly or mirthful . The answer ? It ’s both . It ’s everything . It can be interpreted however you want , and that ’s part of the beauty of it .

It ’s also a terrific part of it . We ’ve all received a poke from someone that sent a shiver down our spine . Was it that remote congenator you have n’t seen in a while ? peradventure it was your former in high spirits school physics teacher , or perhaps an ex lady friend who thing did not end well with . Whoever it was , you probably interpreted their poke in the worst agency possible . That ’s the peril of thrusting — it really depends on the linguistic context of your relationship .

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The poke feature come directly from the genius brain of Mark Zuckerberg . Even the notification haphazardness that first played when you poked someone was just Zuckerberg himself going “ jabbing . ” you’re able to listen to it onSoundCloud . In many way , the poke was a preview of just how foreign Zuckerberg was .

“ We thought it would be fun to make a feature that has no specific purpose , ” said Zuckerberg in aFacebook postover a decade ago . “ So mess around with it , because you ’re not get an explanation from us . ”

The poke capsule a band of the good and bad about social media . Pokes , like Facebook , connected people in strange ways they never thought of before . There was a delightfully random connection to it that was fun and exciting . However , it was also extremely weird and , arguably , all unnecessary .

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The jab also was a herald to the random dopamine advantage systems that are now common on social sensitive . You never knew when you were gon na get nose , so in the back of your brain , you were always kind of waiting for it . If the mere mentioning of pokes deliver to Facebook slightly stresses you out , I ’m right there with you .

Poke also became the name of afailed societal media messaging appfrom Facebook that aimed to vie with Snapchat . One of the app ’s creators posted on Facebook that they made Poke injust 12 days , and the app did n’t last long . However , the legacy of “ poking ” lives on .

Now , younger users may be have poking for the first time . I ’m not sure if we should be happy or sad for them , but nevertheless , Facebook is attempt to make poking a thing again .

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