What Do Pokes Mean in Facebook
You might have received a number of notifications on Facebook where someone has ‘poked’ you and whether you would like to poke back. Its not a literal poke, but somewhat can be defined as someone virtually poking a finger or a nudge to make you notice them. Just how you would be at home and would poke your sister or sibling to tell them something or make them pay attention to you when you are talking.
Now why would anyone poke you virtually on Facebook? Well, there can be a number of why anyone would poke you:
- They are interested in talking to you
- They want you to poke them back
- They are flirting with you
- They are annoying you (which often happens when friends or family poke you)
- Or, they just want you to know that they thought of you
Now, anybody can poke you. From a friend, to family. Its a sort of a nudge, which can mean any of the above, or even all of the options above.
And when I say anyone, I mean anyone from your list. You will not get pokes from strangers. Imagine how weird it would be getting pokes from strangers.
How to Respond to a Poke
Depending on who has poked you on Facebook, you can either respond back with a poke, or you can even message them and start a conversation. Usually, a poke leads to a conversation, but then again, if you are interested in starting the conversation. There are many times that people ignore pokes on Facebook. I am guilty of that as well. I received a number of pokes from random friends that I don’t even talk to. Poking is more like a game-game, you poke me I poke you. But if either of the two parties involved in this poking is not interested, then the poking usually ends there. BUT if you have annoying friends and siblings who will do it just to annoy you, then this poking will probably never stop.
Why Wouldn’t They Just Message Instead of Poking
To be honest, its just a weird feature to let people know ‘Hi, TALK TO ME’. However, people do have other options, than just poking someone on Facebook. Something like a ‘message’ would probably do in such a situation. But then again, there are many people who don’t like starting the conversation. They like to create the circumstances instead where the person they are poking would automatically contact them.
For instance a few days back, one of my colleagues poked me on Facebook. And I had not spoken to her in ages. You can say that I had totally forgotten about her, unless that moment when she poked me and I got a notification for it. So instead of poking back, I thought about messaging instead and catching up since it had been a long gap of conversation between the two of us.
Poking can be a good thing sometimes. Especially when it works like a reminder that ‘okay, this person is on my list and haven’t heard from them in a long long time.’
You can do the same thing too when you miss someone, an old friend, or an old colleague whom you haven’t spoken to or don’t know much about what’s happening in their life. You can message directly too, but poking sort of breaks the ice. It’s like a friendly gesture before you start talking, especially when it is after a long period of time.
