The Facebook ‘poke’, one of the longest-standing features on the social network, is no longer just a virtual gesture.

Designers Jasper van Loenen and Bartholomäus Traubeck 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...