The Facebook poke has made a surprising return, as the platform tries to revive the once-popular feature.
Remember the days of poking your friends as a light-hearted means to attract attention? Or perhaps you sent a sneaky poke to someone you were flirting with? And let’s not forget the all out “poke wars” that we all try to forget.
Finally, the function is back and has been resurrected from the archives of Facebook.
“THE POKE IS HAVING A MOMENT. There’s been a 13x spike in poking on Facebook in the past month. So, be honest: who’s poking who?” Facebook declared in a post.
Pokes, introduced at the inception of the platform in 2004, symbolised a casual method of garnering someone’s attention through profile interaction, triggering a notification for the recipient.
However, the feature gradually waned in popularity post-2011, encountering a shift in perception towards a more negative connotation, seen by some as intrusive to daily life. Consequently, Facebook opted to remove the poking function from user profiles.
Yet, the poke has now made a surprising resurgence, evidenced by a notable uptick in user engagement. Facebook disclosed recent enhancements to the poking feature, including improved suggestions for potential pokes and streamlined navigation to the poking page.
These updates have resulted in a staggering 13x surge in poking activity over the past month.
Of particular note is is that Gen Z seem to be jumping on the trend, with over 50% of pokes originating from individuals aged 18 to 29. This statistic is remarkable, considering the majority of this demographic either did not utilise the platform or were not yet born during the peak era of poking.
With the Poke’s revival, the question arises: Will you be among those rekindling interest in this nostalgic feature?
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