uniladtech homepage
  • News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Facebook is bringing back iconic feature for the first time in 21 years to attract young people

Home> Social Media> Facebook

Published 14:50 5 Sep 2025 GMT+1

Facebook is bringing back iconic feature for the first time in 21 years to attract young people

This comes after Facebook reported a 13 times surge in the feature’s usage

Rikki Loftus

Rikki Loftus

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover
Featured Image Credit: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg
Meta
Social Media
News

Advert

Advert

Advert

Facebook is bringing back an iconic feature for the first time in 21 years.

The change-up is said to be made in an attempt to attract young people back onto the platform.

Over two decades since it was first launched, the Meta site is bringing back an old classic.

Once more, you will be able to ‘poke’ your friends as the feature is being revamped.

Advert

In a post explaining the update, Facebook said: “Pokes never really left but they’re making a comeback in a major way. Now you can see who poked you and find other friends to poke.

“See your poke-count with friends grow each time you poke each other.”

Mark Zuckerberg is attempting to attract young people back onto the platform (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Mark Zuckerberg is attempting to attract young people back onto the platform (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The social media giant added that people will also have the ability to dismiss unwanted pokes.

Last year, Facebook claimed that poke was ‘having a moment’ after it reported that there had been a 13 times surge in the feature’s usage.

While Facebook continues to take top place as the most popular social media platform in the world, it has struggled to gain new users in recent times.

Now, it seems that Mark Zuckerberg has his sights set on a younger audience, hoping to lure gen z over from other apps such as TikTok and Snapchat and back onto his OG platform.

Earlier this year, the mogul made an appearance on the Colin and Samir podcast where Zuckerberg talked about his decision to bring back a different feature to Facebook - the ‘Friends’ tab.

He said: “This is phase one of bringing back OG Facebook. A lot of the fun and useful parts of the original experience, we just sort of didn’t focus as much on. And not only did we not focus on them as much, but... I realised no one else actually recreated a lot of these things that used to be pretty magical about Facebook either.

This comes after Facebook reported a 13 times surge in the feature’s usage (Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
This comes after Facebook reported a 13 times surge in the feature’s usage (Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“I actually think that there's this whole opportunity that I think is going to be pretty fun to to go after and build, which is just to kind of go one-by-one and build up a a bunch of these things that used to be these joyful experiences that people had as part of Facebook that just kind of don't exist on the internet today.”

Others have reacted to the news over the poke button, with one user saying on Reddit: “It was fun with friends back in the olden days. Now who even uses fb?”

Another said: “My mom's going to love that.”

And a third person added: “Zuckerberg desperately needs a product win, it seems.”

Choose your content:

a day ago
2 days ago
  • Daniel Tamas Mehes via Getty
    a day ago

    What would actually happen if you ate a silica gel packet marked 'do not eat'

    The packets serve a surprising purpose

    Social Media
  • H3 Podcast / YouTube
    a day ago

    YouTubers team up to sue Apple over claims of 'unconscionable attack' on creators' rights

    They claim Apple has violated their copyright

    Social Media
  • Jack Gordon / YouTube
    a day ago

    YouTuber praised for getting 'better footage than NASA' as he goes behind the scenes at Artemis 2 launch

    NASA's official coverage disappointed many

    Social Media
  • 5./15 WEST/Getty
    2 days ago

    YouTuber with 2.5M+ views issues desperate plea to platform after waking up to his channel deleted

    He woke up to find over two years of work wiped overnight

    Social Media
  • Facebook revives money-making feature two years after closure users say is a real 'slap in the face'
  • People in disbelief at what Mark Zuckerberg's Meta AI just launched on Facebook
  • Mark Zuckerberg admits reason he almost deleted every single person's Facebook friends in 2022
  • Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram to test controversial new feature