My friends and I have recently resurrected the beautiful art of "poking" on Facebook. And let me tell you - my life has been changed for the better ever since a group of social media-crazed millennial weirdos made "poking" a norm again.
Maybe you're reading this and wondering what on earth I'm talking about. You didn't even know this poking thing existed on your blue dashboard (Oh trust me, it does!) and now you're frantically searching for this famed button all over your profile.
Or maybe you're rolling your eyes as you're reading this and saying to yourself, "Wow, poking was popular in middle school. I am SO over it now." You think poking is merely child's play and scoff at those who waste their time poking their Facebook friends endlessly.
OR maybe you're a fellow poker!! (Welcome!) Maybe you saw the title of this article and exclaimed with elated praise, "Finally, an article I can relate to!"
Whoever you are in this situation, I would like to, nonetheless, inform you on this often overlooked feature on Facebook.
You might be asking yourself right now, "What is the point of poking?" Well, there can be a lot of great purposes for this digital action.
In middle school, I used it to flirt. You heard me. I would see the profile of my crush and, with sweaty palms and shaking fingers, press the "poke" button to say through a screen, "Hey, I think you're kinda cool." It was so much easier this way rather than passing notes back and forth during Mr. Murphy's social studies class.
Another great point of poking is to connect with people you're friends with on Facebook but don't actually talk to in real life. It's a great way to suggest your possible interest in a real-life friendship without actually walking up to them in person and saying, "Hey, I want to be friends with you." Poking helps ease the awkwardness you both may be feeling when you pass them on the sidewalk because it instantly provides a conversation starter. "Hey, I saw you poked me on Facebook! We're at like 300 pokes now! Sick!"
Poking is also a great way to keep in touch with friends from all over the country - and even the world! Say goodbye to FaceTime when you can simply poke someone and when they poke you back you are able to know they are alive and well and have the time to devote to poking you back. It's a much less intentional approach to saving friendships. The best kind! Your mom might even ask you how so-and-so is doing and you can simply reply, "Oh, they're doing great! They poked me on Facebook yesterday!"
And, finally, the main point of poking (in my humble opinion) is for the poke war. After you and a friend have poked each other, Facebook begins to count for you the number of times you two have been pressing this button. It's so fun to watch the number grow and grow as you and your friend "keep in touch". It also becomes a competition to see who is faster at poking back! How fun!
Now with all of this information, I am sure you will be hopping back to Facebook and begin poking people for some or all of the reasons I mentioned.
Happy Poking!
