The poke is back, or at least, Facebook really wants it to be. In fact, it never left, supposedly.
The early-days feature, once a virtual nudge that users quickly abandoned, is being re-positioned as a gamified engagement tool for a new generation.
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A dedicated Poke button now sits directly on user profiles, sending a notification to recipients and logging the interaction on a revamped facebook.com/pokes page. Here, friends can track their “poke count,” essentially a running tally of how many times they’ve nudged each other, with the added bonus of unlocking Emoji reactions as counts climb.
Why? Because streaks work. Platforms like Snapchat and TikTok have long used gamified streak mechanics to drive engagement. Meta clearly hopes pokes can replicate that success. The company even reported a 13x spike in pokes last year after making them easier to access via search.
Still, the poke has always been… ambiguous. Facebook never defined its purpose, leaving it up to users whether a poke means hey, flirt, or just here to annoy you. That vagueness may actually be part of the appeal now, giving younger users a low-stakes way to connect without saying much at all.
Whether “poke counts” can compete with streaks is another story. Research from Jonathan Haidt (The Anxious Generation) and NYU’s Zach Rausch has already spotlighted how streaks exploit habit-forming behavior, raising regulatory concerns about their addictive nature. By adding a new layer of gamification, Facebook is stepping back into a controversial space.
One thing is certain: Meta is betting nostalgia, plus a little gamified dopamine, might just be enough to make poking cool again.