👉 A jab 🔔 A digital nudge

poking

1 6.2

A short online message sent to someone to get their attention

noun
/ˈpoʊkɪŋ/

Texting

: toque

After the poking, she finally decided to respond to his invitation.

Examples

He received a poking from an old friend he hadn't talked to in years.
But whatever it was led me to do some online poking, and before I knew it, I was on a Social Security Administration website checking out what American parents have been calling their newborns for about the last 130 years.

Blog text (19)
Because the original definition of cards, letters, and calls referred to different ways to send a message, Marmo and Bryant re-conceptualized this activity as using multiple Facebook features (e.g., posting on a wall, messaging, and "poking").

Academic text (2013)
I sent her a poking to see if she would reply to my message.

Synonyms

prodding

vspoking

10 4.1

Encouragement from someone who keeps asking you to do something

is a single brief online nudge rather than persistent urging

poke

vspoking

Texting

2 6.7

A short online nudge to get someone's attention

is a quick attention nudge aimed at prompting a reply or showing interest

Antonyms

to ignore

∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

Idioms

look at the mantelpiece when poking the fire

9.9

To pay attention to something unimportant instead of the main task

How Attention-Getting

call

∞ 1.0

notification

76 3.3

message

∞ 1.0

ping

Texting

21 3.9

poke

Texting

2 6.7

poking

Texting

1 6.2

to nudge

24 4.1

Surface Forms

poking singular

pokings plural

Morphology

poking = poke (semi-transparent) = poke + ing

Formed from 'poke' + '-ing' but used metaphorically for a digital/social-media nudge, so the meaning is related but contextually shifted.

Etymology

Poking comes from the verb poke, meaning 'to jab' or 'to nudge', and a helpful image is a quick finger tap to say 'look at me'. That's why online poking is a small digital 'nudge' or short message to remind someone or ask for a reply.