Facebook poke is back? Or was it always there

: you alive?

- yeah. you?

: yes. what about now?

- still breathing. you?

: same. what about now?

 … … … 

This is the exact comment that I used to describe someone what "Poke" is when they asked me what the feature means as I poked them. The person later replied to my inbox with how they were doing and asked me how I was. 

We had been friends on Facebook for a few years now, and our interactions were mostly giving reacts to each others' posts. 

Although Facebook never disclosed the meaning of the feature that has been there since its launch in 2004, regular Facebook users have their ways to utilise the feature. 

The brilliance of Facebook's poke feature is deeply in how little work it takes to get someone's attention on the platform. 

In most cases, the feature is used to say hello, acknowledge their presence, or nudge them to check their Facebook feed. 

Poking is also often used as a fun game as the number of how many times did the person poke you in total is also written with each new poke. 

For all the eligible bachelors out there, Poke can also be a fun way to flirt and interact. Maybe you are too shy to talk or say hello to the person you have a crush on; just poke them on Facebook, and wait for them to poke you back! 

I am trying to say that the meaning behind poke is subjective and largely depends on the relationship between the individuals involved. 

But where were the features all these years? 

The last time I saw pokes being used was in 2010-11 when it was a means to make new friends at the college I attended in Mirpur. It went on for a few months and then stopped. Other times, it came, stayed for a few days, and left. 

While Facebook did not officially remove the feature from the platform, it reduced the visibility and stopped all the promotions. 

I remember back in the day; poke was an option that Facebook showed on the home page. But it disappeared sometime after 2014-15, and most users mostly forgot about it. 

Facebook also removed the option from users' profiles. We used to see an option to poke someone whenever we visited their profiles. 

So, you can imagine my surprise when I got a poke from an old friend of mine last week, and the saga of poking began.

How do you poke someone now?

For starters, you can poke back a friend of yours when they poke you. Tapping on the notification will take you to the poke page, where you will see some suggested friends and also be able to search for friends you might want to poke. 

If you have not gotten poked yet, visit facebook.com/pokes to get to the page, search for a friend and hit Poke. But do exercise some caution, as Facebook now tends to block you from using the feature for 24 hours if you keep poking others non-stop. 

Happy poking?