What Does it Mean to Poke Someone on Facebook

If you're a member of the popular social networking site, you might have asked yourself, what does it mean to "poke" someone on Facebook? Pokes can be confusing at first, because there's really no easily found explanation for them on the site.

Send a virtual poke through Facebook.

A poke is a small application on Facebook that is included with every account. On your homepage, a small box on the right hand side called "Pokes" is visible if anyone has poked you. The pokes themselves are simply small images of a hand with a finger pointing, and the person's name who sent the poke to you.

Pokes are just little reminders or ways to say hello on Facebook. You can send pokes to anyone, not just your friends, and anyone can poke you as well.

To poke someone, simply go to their Facebook profile page and click on the "Poke" link beneath his or her profile picture. You'll get a pop-up box in return asking you to confirm the poke, and once you do that the poke is sent.

If someone pokes you, you'll have the option to poke them back or to hide the poke. Links to select either one of these choices are found beside the pokes themselves. If you decide to hide the poke, it disappears forever.

One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot poke the same person twice, unless they have returned your first poke or they've hidden it.

By now you may be wondering what does it mean to poke someone on Facebook, and why you would want to send a poke. There are a number of reasons to send pokes, both to your friends and to those who aren't on your friends list, including:

• Just to say a quick "hello."
• To remind someone that you're waiting on a reply or message from him or her.
• To check in and see if that person has visited Facebook lately.
• To let someone know you're thinking of him or her.
• If you think you might know someone, but aren't sure if it's the right person. A poke is less intrusive than a friend request, and if that person does know you, he or she will poke you back.
• Just for fun.

When you send a poke to someone on Facebook, that person will be able to view your basic information, work information, and education information on your profile. This occurs even if your profile is set to private and the person you have poked is not on your friends list.

This profile access is temporary, although the Facebook terms do not specify how long your information is available in this way.

You can send a poke from your mobile phone or device in a number of different ways.

• From a Facebook text, reply "p"
• When visiting a member's profile, reply "p"
• Text "p" followed by the person's name to FBOOK

Basic Facebook pokes shouldn't be confused with an application called Super Poke. Super Poke is an opt-in application that allows you to send and receive pokes with more actions, as well as images.

Super Poke includes pokes that can be holiday themed, or based on sports, seasons, or just basic actions. When you get one of these pokes from your friends, you get a message on your profile page saying, for example, "Joe has waved at (your name)."

Similarly, there are a handful of other specialized poking applications you can try, based on different themes. For example:

• Super Smash Bros. Poke
• Flirty Poke
• Gift Poke
• Office Poke
• Poke Ultimate

These pokes can only be sent and received by members who have allowed the application to access their profiles and information.

If you're still unsure about poking on Facebook, give it a try! It can be fun to log in and see how many of your friends have poked you back.

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