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# The Poking Machine
- URL: https://www.protein.xyz/the-poking-machine/
- Published: 2012-03-26T17:38:28.000Z
- Updated: 2025-05-28T11:02:46.000Z
- Description: The Facebook ‘poke’, one of the longest-standing features on the social network, is no longer just a virtual gesture.
- Author: Protein
- Tags: Seeds, Art & Design, #protein, #Import 2024-06-11 13:15, #author-change-2025-05-28

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/71/fc716215-5729-441a-bd07-e2b50bc413b1/content/images/S3/protein/4127/cbaab4b8-f6e9-4c73-87f2-9e25867c97ef.jpg)

The [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/) ‘poke’, one of the longest-standing features on the social network, is no longer just a virtual gesture.

Designers [Jasper van Loenen](http://jaspervanloenen.com/?ref=protein.xyz) and [Bartholomäus Traubeck](http://traubeck.com/?ref=protein.xyz) have created a device that when worn can give someone a physical poke. It consists of a custom-built box that receives signals from an Android phone connected to Facebook. When someone sends a poke on Facebook to a friend, the phone sends the information to the box, which in turn releases a small lever into the wearer. Ouch.

The project explores how social networking – a typically digital activity – can be re-imagined as a tangible experience, underlining how people could connect physically as well as online. It might also make some Facebook users think twice about hitting the ‘poke’ button in future...