Why poke on Facebook?

Before delving into the "why," let's first clarify what a poke is. For beginners, poking is rather simple. When you poke your friend (presumably, they are still your friend after all these years), the person gets a notification stating that you have poked them.

This helps you to get the attention of your friend on Facebook, and the person can also poke you back if they want to (or, if they still consider you as their friend).

To poke someone from your desktop or PC or laptop, use the Facebook website.

First, open your web browser and click on the search button on FB after logging in and type "Pokes" and voila. Similarly, you can just go to search and find it on your tab or cellphone's Facebook app.

On the "Pokes" page, you will see a list of people that you can poke. To look for someone specific, use the search box at the top of the page. And then poke away.

But, why poke?

Your answer is as good as mine, really.

After rediscovering this poke feature, which is a relic of the past now, and after receiving a number of pokes yesterday, I believe everyone has had their share of pokes till today.

Something which was once upon a time a tool to let your friend know that you exist or he/she/they exist in your mind (or your heart, if you will), was hidden by Facebook over time.

However, the recent emergence of the poke button brought out our innate childishness (or childlikeness, if you will) which we kept reserved or hidden over time, even from our closest friends or loved ones.

Many on social media remembered it fondly, many wondered why this trend reemerged. Some, probably as before, did a face-palm.

While some netizens claimed to have been poking friends continuously, like you would for Snapchat streaks, some even claimed that it has become a competition, as to who can get most pokes in a row.

Like remembering something from the past that brings a sweet nostalgia, say something cooked by your mother or grandmother, this poke button took us down the memory lane where we could once upon a time, just poke a friend, for fun.

Nowadays, the subtle art of flirting is allegedly reacting to someone's "stories" on Facebook or Instagram. Before the era of "stories", people would send a friend request to a person they admired and would just poke them, if they felt too nervous to strike up a conversation.

At this day and age when channels of communication are infinite and yet, the amount of communication is infinitesimally small, a simple poke can remind your friend that: "hey, you're not alone!", "i remember you", or "i miss you".

Of course, you may or may not send memes to your friends to convey the same message. But, let's face it. How many of us yesterday (or today) poked a friend with whom we had probably zero conversation/communication over the past five or ten years?

Hence, the answer to this question could be whatever you attribute it to. For me, it is, "I'm there for you, if you need me".

Also, you don't really need a reason. Want to annoy your friend to their wit's end? Poke away!