Facebook revives the poke feature, Gen Z loves it

Meta said the number of "teasing" clicks increased 13 times after changing the design - Photo: Consequence

The new design will display this button alongside any Facebook account name that users search for. After implementing the change, Meta found that people started using this function more, and mainly Gen Z.

Gen Z loves to "tease" each other on Facebook

Technically, Poke isn’t completely gone. It’s just hidden deep in a series of settings, or you can type “Poke” into Facebook’s search bar. Meta says that poke clicks have increased 13-fold since the redesign, but it declined to share exact daily poke numbers.

The tech giant is also making it easier to find Poke sites. Now, just typing "poking" or "pokes" into the search bar will return results.

Surprisingly, Meta says that more than 50% of the "poking" is done by users between the ages of 18 and 29. Perhaps they were too young to use the "poke" feature in the early days, but now it's the "right time, right place, right people" period.

Poke was one of Facebook’s earliest signature features, introduced before the News Feed, but it was not very popular at the time. Many people considered the “poking” function inappropriate, or that there were better ways to communicate and connect.

In 2014, the Poke button quietly disappeared from user options. In 2017, Meta made an attempt to bring Poke back by putting the feature on users' profile pages, but it still didn't really catch on.

Use Facebook to shop to save money

For many young people in their 20s who don't have a steady income, Facebook's Marketplace feature is a place to find great deals on items they wouldn't normally be able to afford, according to The New York Times .

In December, Ellicia Chiu and Cher Su moved into an apartment on New York's Lower East Side with just a few boxes. Before moving from Los Angeles, the two friends knew they would need to furnish their new apartment—small kitchen appliances, decorations, and furniture.

But instead of buying new items, they know it makes more sense to find used items on Facebook Marketplace.

“In my 20s, I wanted something nicer but I didn’t have the financial means to get it,” Chiu said. The 24-year-old added that she prefers Marketplace over other sites because of its easy-to-use interface, which makes finding furniture deals easier.

A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that over the past decade, Facebook has lost popularity among Gen Z as a social network. Instead, young people spend more time interacting on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Facebook’s Marketplace feature, however, is a different story. Yoo-Kyoung Seock, a professor of textiles, merchandising, and interiors at the University of Georgia who studies consumer behavior among Gen Z and millennials and environmental sustainability in the textile industry, said Facebook Marketplace is seen as a counterweight to eBay and Craigslist.

Launched in 2016, Marketplace has more than 1 billion monthly active users and is the second-most popular online site for secondhand goods, after eBay, according to a 2022 survey by Statista, a market data company.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/facebook-hoi-sinh-tinh-nang-choc-gheo-gen-z-thich-me-20240320175422532.htm