Facebook — alongside the key services it owns such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus — are down, and the internet is having a field day with it. Facebook says that it is aware of an issue that is preventing users from accessing its services, and that it was looking to resolve the problem as soon as possible. And oh, the tweet mentions that Facebook was feeling apologetic about the inconvenience. Well, it looks like social media is not very forgiving, especially when it comes to a company that has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons lately.
Needless to say, with Instagram in sleep mode, users have thronged to Twitter to express all forms of emotion. And one of those users includes founder and CEO Jack Dorsey himself. Retweeting a user’s post that says someone actually put the Facebook.com domain for sale, Dorsey cheekily expressed his interest in buying the coveted domain name. Interestingly, Twitter’s market cap is over 20 times less than that of Facebook. Where Dorsey is going to get all that money is only known to him and the internet gods. One user tweeted that Twitter is shouldering the load of an audience that has apparently gone bananas with Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp going down. And it seems about right at the moment.
Another user tweeted that without even looking at the internet, his wife was able to deduce the Facebook downtime but just seeing the productivity level of people go up. The idea is ingenious, especially considering the fact that Facebook’s own internal research says that the platform is addictive. As for the real reason why Facebook services are down, it appears to be linked to major DNS issues, but the problem may run even deeper. Unlike Facebook, Instagram’s DNS services are hosted on Amazon, but it still returns a server error. A few experts trace the issue back to server configuration problems. Irrespective of the reason, it appears that the downtime is affecting Facebook’s internal services for employees too, which includes emails, chats, and dashboards. An internet-catalyzed snow day, it seems.
Funny, Furious, And Everything In Between
One user, who happens to be a fan of blockchain technology, prophesied that the service catastrophe is a demonstration of why all services should move to decentralized web architecture. NSA whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden was not in a very forgiving mood though, claiming that a day without Facebook services makes the world a healthier place. Comedian Hal Rudnick chirped that they better not bring back Facebook.
Even FIA, the organizer of the European Rally Championship, got in on the fun and shared some rally-inspired humor to depict the Facebook and Instagram bust. For some users, the day amounts to a delightful break from social media and time to interact with the real world. Maybe hear a real bird chirp or see green grass that hasn’t been touched up with a filter. And how could the poor influencers be spared? Steven Henrich of the Northman Trader tweeted that Facebook and Instagram influencers will now have to look for some real jobs. Singer Dafina Zeqiri equated the service downtime to a quarantine. At least for the moment, it looks like the issue may take some time before it gets resolved.
Source: Twitter