Facebook Down: Social Network Provides Update on Widespread Service Outage

Facebook is still down, though the social media giant has provided an update to users through its [...]

By Michael Hein

Facebook is still down, though the social media giant has provided an update to users through its Twitter profile.

Facebook went down for a prolonged period of time on Wednesday that left many people in panic. It is still unclear why the social network is down and why it has taken so long to get back up and running, but Facebook was able to give the encouraging news that it was not related to a DDoS attack.

"We're aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps," Facebook tweeted. "We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible."

"We're focused on working to resolve the issue as soon as possible, but can confirm that the issue is not related to a DDoS attack," it added.

DDoS is short for a distributed denial-of-service attack. It is done by using botnets or other systems to flood a target system — such as a social media network — all at once. Attackers may use multiple web servers to flood the bandwidth of their target, crashing the whole thing on purpose.

The updates were not well received in the replies, as many fans questioned what could possibly ravage the massive infrastructure so badly. Many mocked their own lack of technical knowledge, begging the programmers to get Facebook back online by any means necessary.

"Have you tried turning it off and back on again?" one person joked.

"Try putting it in rice," added another.

Many users also laughed at the irony of Facebook needing to use another social media outlet to provide updates on its own services. Facebook and Twitter are two of the biggest competitors in a small field when it comes to social apps, so any time one relies on the other it is a shock to fans.

"Why didn't you announce this on MySpace," one person quipped.

"Thank goodness for Twitter, am I right [Facebook]?" wrote another.

Facebook went down without warning on Wednesday around noon ET. Instagram also went down, as Facebook is its parent company and the two share a lot of the same resources. In an early message, Facebook described the outage as "required maintenance," though it did not seem to be planned in advance.

"Facebook will be back soon," the site read. "Facebook is down for required maintenance right now, but you should be able to get back on within a few minutes. In the meantime, read more about why you're seeing this message. Thanks for your patience as we improve the site."

At the time of this writing, Facebook is still down in many places around the world.

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