Technically, the poke by no means actually left Fb.
The basic function from Fb’s early days lets customers get a pal’s consideration with a digital nudge of kinds. Whereas the poke fell out of use ages in the past, the corporate has extra not too long ago seen an uptick in its use amongst youthful customers, which has now prompted it to make the poke a extra central a part of the Fb expertise.
Now customers are in a position to poke their buddies from a brand new, devoted button instantly on their Fb profile, which is able to alert the poke’s recipient by their notifications. As well as, Fb customers can see who poked them and discover buddies to poke at fb.com/pokes. On this web page, customers will be capable of monitor their “poke depend” with buddies, which grows each time they poke one another. They’ll additionally dismiss pokes in the event that they don’t need to reciprocate.
Picture Credit:Meta (screenshot) (opens in a brand new window)
The poke-tracking function is basically designed to enchantment to youthful customers who’ve grown up with gamification components constructed into their social apps, like Snapchat and TikTok Streaks. These options ostensibly assist buddies maintain monitor of these they message most, however streaks have come below regulatory scrutiny and have even led to lawsuits due to their addictive nature, as they maintain youngsters hooked on the apps.
By highlighting poke counts and making the poke extra distinguished on Fb, Meta desires to create an analogous engagement mechanism. As customers improve their poke counts with a pal, completely different icons will seem subsequent to the pal’s identify, like a fireplace emoji or “100,” amongst others.
This isn’t the primary time in latest months that Fb has tried to revive the poke. In March 2024, the corporate stated it had made it simpler for customers to search out the poking web page by way of search and would make it simpler to poke a pal after looking for them. These small adjustments led to a 13x spike in poking within the month after the adjustments, Meta stated on the time.
As for why you’d need to poke somebody, that’s as much as customers to resolve. Fb by no means defined the aim of the poke, leaving it open to interpretation. A poke might be a technique to catch somebody’s consideration, flirt, or simply annoy them, relying on the consumer’s intent.
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
|
October 27-29, 2025
Poke counts could by no means grow to be as in style as streaks, however including them is clearly a sign that Meta is trying to increase Fb engagement.
In line with analysis from Jon Haidt, creator of “The Anxious Technology,” which targeted on social media’s potential hurt to youngsters’s mind growth, Snap had recognized about streaks’ habit-forming nature for years. An article he co-published with a senior analysis scientist at NYU Stern, Zach Rausch, included quotes from inner paperwork that present Snap staff discussing how in style streaks have been and the way efficient they have been at driving engagement.
Although Fb right this moment stays a money cow for Meta’s enterprise, fueling its longer-term bets in areas like AI and metaverse tasks, it has lengthy been criticized for failing to enchantment to youthful customers — a demographic that’s been declining, notably within the U.S. The corporate has tried to recapture the youth market with numerous initiatives, together with the short-lived, college-only function Fb Campus, shuttered in 2022, and extra not too long ago, a Gen Z-focused redesign.
