Facebook is trying to repeat “shovels”

Technically, Poke never really left Facebook.

The classic function from the early Facebook days allows users to draw the attention of a friend with virtual struggle. While Poke fell from centuries, the company recently saw the increase in its use among younger users, which prompted him to make Poke a more central part of the impression on Facebook.

Now users are able to poke their friends from a new, dedicated button directly on their Facebook profile, which will notify the poker recipient about their notifications. In addition, Facebook users can see who has poked them and find friends to poke them Facebook.com/pokes. On this page, users will be able to follow their “poke count” with friends who grow every time they are playing each other. They can also reject pooks if they don't want to reciprocate.

The Poke Tracking function has been largely designed to appeal to younger users who grew up with elements of gamification built into their social applications, such as Snapchat and Tiktok Streaks. These functions allegedly help friends to follow people who send the most regulatory control and I have He even led to lawsuits Due to their addictive nature, because they keep children addicted to the application.

Emphasizing Poke counts and making Poke more visible on Facebook, Meta wants to create a similar mechanism of commitment. When users increase the number of poke with a friend, various icons will appear next to the name of a friend, such as emoji fire or “100”.

This is not the first time in the last months when Facebook tried to revive Poke. In March 2024, the company announced that it made it easier for users to find a poisoning page via search and would make it easier to throw a friend after searching them. These small changes led to 13 times jumping in a month after the changes, then the finish said.

When it comes to why you want to poke someone, it depends on users. Facebook never explained the purpose of Poke, leaving it open to interpretation. Poke can be a way to attract attention, flirtation or simply their annoyance, depending on the user's intention.

The number of poke may never become as popular as the series, but adding them is clearly a signal that the finish wants to increase Facebook commitment.

According to For research from Jon HaidtThe author of “The Aspous Generation”, which focused on the potential damage to social media for children's brain development, Snap knew about the nature shaping Streaks. The article, which he published together with the senior scientist in Nyu Stern, Zach Rausch, contained quotes from internal documents that show that SNAP employees discuss how popular streaks were and how effective commitment was.

Although Facebook today remains a cash cow for META activities, fueling long -term factories in areas such as AI and Metaverse Projects, she has been criticized for a long time in the absence of refer to younger users – that was the demographic group decliningIN Especially in the USA The company tried to regain the youth market with various initiatives, including a short -term Facebook campus only in College, closed in 2022, and recently the red -oriented Gen Z.