Facebook's nostalgic poke interaction is still available on the platform. Here's how you can access it.
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You may have thought poking was dead on Facebook. But it turns out the feature is still there and Facebook is even trying to revive it. Here's what you need to know about poking someone on Facebook and how you can still use the feature.
What Is Poking on Facebook?
Those who used Facebook in its early days will remember the ability to "poke" someone on Facebook to get their attention. This would essentially send a notification to the person letting them know that you poked them. But the feature was eventually buried, with Facebook leaning towards post reactions and interactions instead.
However, according to Business Insider, Meta is trying to revive the feature with a design tweak that is reintroducing it to a new generation of users (and providing a throwback for early users of the platform). The design tweak will show the poke button next to a name when you search for a person.
While we haven't seen the poke button on the Facebook website, we do see it when searching for someone using the Android app. However, even if you don't see this resurfaced button, you can still use the poke feature.
You should also note that you can only use the feature with friends, so the button will not appear next to the names of people you're not Facebook friends with.
How to Poke Someone on Facebook in 2024
The easiest way to poke someone on Facebook is to use the Poke button. To access this button, search for your friend's name in the Facebook mobile app. Then select the Poke button. Once the action has been sent, the button will change to Poked.
If you don't see this button, or you're using the Facebook website, you can still access the poke feature in a slightly more roundabout way.
To do this, follow these steps:
- In the search bar, type the word "poke" and press Enter.
- Select the menu item that says Pokes. This will take you to a page where you can see who has poked you.
From this page, you can also access the poke button to send pokes to friends. Facebook will provide a list of suggested users to poke, but you can also use the search bar to look for someone specific.
When you poke someone, Facebook will send the person a notification to let them know that you used the feature.
If they click on the notification, Facebook will open the poke page for you where you can poke them back. You can choose whether to continue the cycle of nudges. While the feature is slightly buried, it's an entertaining tool like seeing a friendship history on Facebook.
Facebook does not keep a history of people you have poked in the past, but you will be able to tell who you have poked based on whether the button is available when you search their name on the poke page. This prevents someone from spamming others with pokes. You don't want poking to end up being the reason you block someone on Facebook, after all.
So if you want to catch a friend's attention or just give the feature a try, check out the poke feature on Facebook for a sense of nostalgia or a new way to attract someone's notice.