So Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram went down again. This happened for about 45 to 60 minutes and users were unable to interact using these platforms. If you’re reading this, it’s possible you also couldn’t access some of the features of WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger or Instagram on March 19th, 2021.
This didn’t just happen in your local area but globally. DownDetector.com, which records a realtime overview of issues and outages with all kinds of services gave the following report during the incidence;
- 2,035 reported outages on Facebook and
- 5,550 reported outages on Facebook Messenger.
- 119,585 reported outages on Instagram.
- 5,550 reported outages on Facebook Messenger.
A number of users of the social media platforms reported the outages on Twitter, and several phrases such as “My Instagram,” “Y’all Instagram” and “My IG” started to trend.
There was a sign…
Before the incidence, WhatsApp had been facing technical issues for about a week now. Some users have complained that they don’t get the ‘blue tick’ or indication after they’ve sent a message and the other person has read it. Facebook is yet to disclose what the real issue is. The only statement which one of its spokesmen gave was that it was a technical issue.
Therefore this is not the first time the world is experiencing issues with Facebook services.
As you know, Facebook is the owner of WhatsApp, Instagram and many other smaller companies. As the company grows bigger, its system becomes so massive that any small change on the platform can create unpredictable and big effects. This is probably what caused the outage on March 19th 2021. They create some little changes and it brought down their entire network. These changes can be certain tests which when ran knocked down the network.
So if you’ve been wondering, “Facebook has been around for so many years. How come we are having these technical issues?” As Facebook gets bigger and bigger their platform is more complex and it just seems like they can’t handle the complexity of this monopoly they’re creating.
Avoid Putting Your Eggs in One Basket
Monopoly is a risk. You can’t rely on one company to do much of all your communications and entertainment – Whatsapp, Instagram Direct and Facebook Messenger. A lot of entrepreneurs also rely on Facebook and Instagram to do marketing. This is a bad strategy. A few months ago, Facebook experienced technical issues, and platforms or companies that allow users to log in with their Facebook credentials had problems attending to customers. Just think about the size of this integration that Facebook is creating. It isn’t safe for businesses.
Facebook is awesome. They’ve created so many ways for us to interact with each other, connect with each other, create businesses and even jobs. But think about the other side, and have a plan B. It is risky to put all your eggs in the same basket. Now when that basket goes down literally you have nothing else to fall back on.
Have a Plan B
So like for Whatsapp, having a Telegram app is a plan B. For your entertainment, a plan B could be YouTube or TikTok.
Let’s hope that the next outage doesn’t cause businesses on Facebook or Instagram to lose millions or billions of dollars. Anything can happen with the server or problems with maintenance or testing.
What about cyber attacks, hackers and things like that? So imagine you’re relying on just the Facebook platform and someone attacks Facebook? You lose the ability to use the company’s services, and even worse, your accounts get hacked or deleted. Years and the content you created on those platforms go down the drain. It’s important to diversify to have other options.
