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Mark Zuckerberg said to be the voice behind Poke alert

Mark Zuckerberg said to be the voice behind Poke alert

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Gallery Photo: Facebook Poke photos
Gallery Photo: Facebook Poke photos

If the mere concept and potential use cases of Facebook's new Poke app weren't creepy enough already, know this: each time you receive a private, timed message from one of your Facebook friends, you're apparently hearing the voice of Mark Zuckerberg. According to TechCrunch, the brief "poke" audio alert that accompanies each snippet of text, photo, or video sent through Poke was recorded by the CEO himself. Apparently Zuckerberg simply meant it as a joke at first, but before long the audio clip was run through some audio processing software and integrated in the app — which itself is unmistakably derived from Snapchat.

TechCrunch also says Zuckerberg was directly involved in coding Poke. Prior to cloning Evan Spiegel's popular service, Facebook reportedly made an offer to buy Snapchat outright but was rebuffed. If it wanted to capitalize on the growing popularity of this expiring message trend, it would need to work fast. And that's exactly what happened: Facebook Director of Product Blake Ross revealed that Poke made the journey from concept to completion in just 12 days.