What Does it Mean to Poke Someone on Facebook?

Last weekend, my friends and I were hanging out at my house. A couple of hours later, I discovered that Maria, who was using my mac earlier, forgot to log out of her facebook account. Being the inquisitive person that I am and having no background regarding the features of the said social networking site I decided to explore it using what was conveniently left open for me. Ergo, I used her account. Besides, it was a good venue to get gossip from whatever her online buddies may have posted. I thought to myself, maybe they have been talking about something juicy. AND the juicier the conversation, the better it is for me. Now before you start thinking that I am so outmoded for not knowing the features of facebook, I would like to clarify things. I have always been a fan of myspace and as a fan, I tend to be LOYAL. Anyhow, going back to the topic, I clicked around the site and saw that apparently, Maria was friends with the hottest guy in our school. Then I saw a POKE ME underneath his photo. This was a sure shot sign of invitation for me, SO I POKED HIM, logged off and left a message on Maria’s phone to tell her what I did.

The next day, Maria screamed with delight while plopping down beside me at the cafeteria. She said that Josh (that’s the name of our campus hunk) poked her back in facebook. I rolled my eyes and asked her what was so great about that. It wasn’t as if he asked her out on a date. She said, in a matter of fact voice that Josh was in fact flirting with her when he poked her back. So I was like “HUH?” I might have given Maria a stupid look because she immediately launched into a lengthy explanation of what poking in facebook means.

This Facebook Poke Video is quite entertaining.

So what does it mean to poke someone on facebook?

Well according to Maria’s account, poking is the online version of flirting with someone you like. It’s a person’s way of saying to another that “hey, I like you but I cannot really say how I feel because I am shy so here I am poking you. I hope you will notice me somehow”. She also added that frequent poking might translate into something with a more sexual connotation. I asked her how this could be and she said it just is. I wasn’t very satisfied with her answer so I posted a make-shift survey in our main bulletin board at school. By the end of the afternoon, I got my answers.

So again, what does it mean to poke someone on facebook? Here’s what the school body says.

• A poke could mean “hi, just letting you know that I like you”. As Maria said, it’s a subtle way of flirting when you are too shy to verbalize what you want to say or simply you are not near this person to be able to see them face to face in person.

• The POKE ME button implies “hey let’s hook up and maybe do little bit more than that afterwards“. You know, like a little nightcap fun on the sensual side?” The usual connotation of poking is that of sex. When people are intimate with each other, they may use it as part of their foreplay. Depending on the individuals involved, this is what it could mean.

• To poke someone in facebook is the virtual version of poking someone in real life in order to make fun of him. Imagine someone poking you repetitively and not stopping even when he’s getting on your nerve. It may be the same thing online.

• Poking may also mean that you just sent the other person an email and that he should check it out because you spent the effort and time to remember him.

• The action may also be one’s way of telling another that he or she is still alive and breathing.

• If you are closely affiliated with a guy or a girl, poking could be a way of communicating to the other person that you are missing him or her.

• It could simply be virtual fun wherein you start a poking war game with your friends and compete as to who can poke more people and who is poked by more people. Who knows, this cyber competition may be accompanied by real prizes. Some people think that way so you never know your virtual fun may get you a little bit of dough.

• When a person is angry, him poking another may mean that he is either trying to provoke the other individual especially if he is poking an online friend who may have turned into an online nemesis due to whatever reason.

• Finally, poking may be given the interpretation of “Yo!” and nothing else.

Whichever way an individual interprets it, POKE ME in Facebook could basically mean anything – from a simple hello to something sexual. So for YOU, what does it mean to poke someone on facebook?

Note:Below are the comments we were able to retrieve when we switched our servers but lost our blog data.

Retrieved Comments

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   1
   PiterKokoniz said at 7:45 am on April 8th, 2009:

   Hi !!!!
   My name is Piter Kokoniz. oOnly want to tell, that I like your blog very much!
   And want to ask you: will you continue to post in this blog in future?
   Sorry for my bad english:)
   Thank you:)
   Piter Kokoniz, from Latvia

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   2
   Administrator said at 3:24 pm on April 8th, 2009:

   Thank you Piter. Yes we will most definitely continue to write on this blog. You can expect 3 - 4 new articles a week so tell your friends that love Facebook

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   Sheryl said at 5:03 pm on June 7th, 2009:

   You are absolutely brilliant!
   I came here frustrated in search of Facebook help and not only found helpful info, I’m smiling again!
   Thank you sooo much… I’ll be back often!