Meta has recently brought back Facebook‘s poke button after revealing that the platform’s iconic feature saw a 13x surge in Pokes.
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During the early days of Facebook, the poke button was one of the site’s earliest features and was used as one of the few ways to communicate with friends. Per Business Insider, the button was never removed. It was hidden deep within settings.
At the beginning of this year, the platform’s design underwent a few updates, making the poke button easily visible, leading to a surge in its use. According to Facebook, more than half of the pokes are coming from Gen Z and Millennials – people aged 18 through 29 (per Tech Crunch) – who were too young to use. the site when it was first launched back in 2004.
People on X/Twitter have been reacting to the news of the poke button revival. Check out some of the reactions below:
The facebook poke was the original swipe right really
— RachAel Harris (@racaldwe) March 20, 2024
Facebook is bringing back the Poke button .. this should be interesting
— Alex (@olo114) March 20, 2024
Nice to see #Facebook #poke back again! Have been #poking my whole friend list now lol since morning. #FacebookPoke
— Karan Dharamshi (@karandharamshi8) March 20, 2024
Something happened today that I forgot was a feature on Facebook. Someone poked me….. I am not reliving the poke wars of 2010-2013
…. I have been through enough
— Ozzie Paladin (@Ozzie_Paladin) March 20, 2024
It’s on Giving a poke’s making a comeback on Facebook, ay! Loving it thank you @facebook pic.twitter.com/75zd8jDWll
— Andy Parackal ( カ c/ acc) (@Andyparackal) March 20, 2024
Last year, Meta reported that its metaverse division counted losses of almost £3.5billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) announced that its VR and metaverse division Meta Reality Labs lost £3.486billion in the final quarter of 2022, compared to losses of £2.692billion in the same quarter the previous year. It’s the division’s biggest loss to date.
The post Facebook’s poke button returns – much to the delight of Gen Z appeared first on NME.
