Why Are You Poking Me?

Published by Toronto Mike on June 8, 2007 @ 22:27 in Miscellaneous

mouseOnly five days ago I caved and succumbed to the pressures of Facebook. I didn't dive in, I didn't use my full name nor did I post my alma maters. I'm even using a fake picture.

After five days I can see why people get addicted to this tool. It's pretty awesome. I just have one question. What's the deal with the poke?

People have been poking me. I'm never quite sure what to do. Sometimes I ignore it, other times I poke back. I'm unsure what the poking etiquette dictates and I don't understand the purpose.

There is much for me to learn. People even tagged me in photos of pizza and The Simpsons and got offended when I removed the tag. It's a whole self sustained eco-system and I'm suffering from culture shock.

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10 Responses to "Why Are You Poking Me?"

Annemarie
June 11, 2007 / 10:46

You're joking right?

Toronto Mike
June 11, 2007 / 11:10

Oh wise one, explain the poke to me. I'm still getting poked, and it sorta hurts.

Annemarie
June 11, 2007 / 12:42

Funny.

I think it's pretty obvious/self-explanatory. I'm surprised you haven't found this:

http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=20

My definition/explanation (which I wrote before finding link above):

Poking is just that, but virtual. It's a way for people on Facebook to see if you're still "alive" in a way - kind of like a nudge on Windows Live Messenger or a buzz on Yahoo! Messenger, but w/ no sound - actually, I'm surprised they haven't given it audio; I can just hear what it would sound like too. It's an alternative to sending a person a message/e-mail on Facebook. It's also good if you're not sure the person you've found is the one you're looking for & know as there can be a lot of people w/ the same name or variations of it & the profile pics don't tell a lot when looking through the endless list of John Smiths.

I hope this clears things up.

Happy poking!

Toronto Mike
June 11, 2007 / 13:12

Well that's just silly.

Al
June 11, 2007 / 13:50

I've also heard (and I haven't confirmed if this is true or not) that if you poke someone and they poke back, you gain temporary access to their profile screen so you can see if the person you're poking is indeed the person you are looking for. Once again, I have not been able to verify this.

Toronto Mike
June 11, 2007 / 13:53

Gotcha. So a return poke is a way to say "check out all the stuff I reserve for my friends".

At least that's a function. Why would someone who is already a friend poke you?

Annemarie
June 11, 2007 / 13:58

What Al said is true.

I think I explained why people who already know you would poke you. It's just fun.

Toronto Mike
June 11, 2007 / 14:02

Can I disable pokes? :-)

Annemarie
June 11, 2007 / 14:18

No, you can't. Click on "Write us a message" @ the bottom of the link I posted if you want to suggest it to Facebook.

There's also the SuperPoke! application if you really wanna get into it where you can do other things to people such as b!*$% slap, bite, buy a drink for, etc. ;)

Toronto Mike
June 11, 2007 / 14:27

I thought FB was MySpace for adults?

Stink my butts!

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