Poke Me, Poke Me Not

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The new Facebook Poke iOS app lets you send expiring images, videos and messages to Facebook friends

In a blog post of Facebook last December 21, 2012, they announced the arrival of a new application for iPhone called Facebook Poke. This free standalone iOS app, allows you to send fleeting messages, pokes, photos and 10-second videos to Facebook friends. The messages expire after a set period of time, from 1 to 10 seconds, and cannot be retrieved by either party again. This makes the app perfect for sending salacious images without leaving a trail. The poke feature has been a part of Facebook since 2004. Now they're sharing a new poke experience for mobile.

So they really think that setting it to self destruct will keep it private? If anyone has a way to take a picture of the screen, bingo! This is really scary, especially having teenagers with phones. To encourage this kind of behavior with these apps is appalling to me. It's just saying "here kids, beat the system!".  All you need is a second device, either another phone or a camera or you can even take a screenshot  and suddenly 5 seconds is forever.

The only thing this app is going to do is make it more tempting for pedo's to send nude pics and vids to their victims and feel more safe while doing it. Just watch the pile up of cases with this app and see if I'm wrong, Facebook is going to be in headlines at a constant pace with this app rolling. Who needs a 10 sec video or pic displayed?... Unless you're a spy or a flash freak. It is my wish that things like this app don't come about, it's not progress or genius when you make something more safe to do more harm than good is it?

Now, poke me? or poke me not?