Manasi VarmaOutages at tech companies and social media platforms are nothing new. But despite them being a common occurence every few months, users can never seem to be prepared for the package of problems that such outages bring with them, including having to stay offline for hours, and being unable to view, post, like or comment. And the latest power glitch that troubled thousands of Facebook and Instagram users across the globe, took place on Saturday.
Image Credits: OinkAndStuff
Users Frustrated as Service Remains Out For An Hour
As per a report by Downdetector.com, which is an outage detecting website, both Facebook and Instagram remained down for quite a while for thousands of users. The news was first covered by Reuters. According to the report, apart from the two platforms proper, the glitch also extended to Messenger, the messaging and DM application supported by Facebook. The Workplace service was also affected.
Being forced to stay away from one’s social accounts is quite an ordeal in itself, and so, thousands were left frustrated as the outage went on for close to an hour, between 11 pm and 12 midnight IST. Keeping in mind that the timing of the glitch implies that it occurred during the day in Western countries, probably added to the problem, as many who rely on Facebook and Instagram for their work and business too, might have been hit.
The reason was identifed to be a technical issue, which prevented users from accessing or logging into their Instagram accounts. Said users must have been thankful when service was restored for all the platforms, as the company rushed to resolve the matter. A spokesperson said that due action was taken as soon as the problem was identified, so as to reach out to all those who had been affected, before apologizing for any inconvenience caused (which was expressed by people by making tons of posts on other social platforms.
Not the First Time
This is not the first time in recent days that Facebook Inc. and its allied services have become unreachable to users. A little over some three weeks ago, Facebook and subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp briefly closed their doors to thousands and millions of users, thanks to a global outage of services. It might be worth pointing out that contemporary and rival Twitter has been the greatest beneficiary of these glitches.
Image Credits: Unsplash
So What’s Downdetector?
For the unversed, Downdetector undoubtedly is one of the fasted and most reliable sources of information, when it comes to power outages and glitches. The platform collects and collates relevant data through status reports, the source for which includes errors reported by end users themselves.