Facebook and Instagram Crash, Frustrating Users Around the World

A laid-back Labor Day weekend came to a screeching halt for some when Facebook and Instagram both [...]

By Michael Hein

A laid-back Labor Day weekend came to a screeching halt for some when Facebook and Instagram both crashed around the globe on Monday evening.

The social media sites went down around 4 p.m. ET in the United States, according to a report by the Daily Mail. Users in Europe, Africa and parts of Central and South America also experienced crashes. All of the associated mobile apps for the companies went down as well, leaving many with the shocking absence of the communication they've become accustomed to.

The most concentrated reports of Facebook crashing are coming out of the north-eastern part of the United States. By the looks of DownDetector.com, the West Coast still has access, as do huge swaths of the mid-west.

With no where else to turn, many rushed to Twitter to vent their feelings about the sudden social media shortage. The traffic patterns amused some, and annoyed many others.

"Instagram is down - everyone goes to Twitter. Facebook is down, everyone goes to Twitter," observed one user. "But... Where will people go if Twitter is down?"

"Thank you, Twitter, for being always here even when Instagram decides to crash," added another.

Many users reported all the lengths they went to trying to get back into their beloved apps. They laughed at themselves for not even considering the possibility that the services might go down, instead, resetting passwords and checking their connections.

"Tried responding to DMs on Instagram 28490282 times," chronicled one person. "Resent, to no avail. Closed app out repeatedly. Turns off WiFi on phone. Turns back on. Restarts routers. Checks outside to see if it's still raining. Finally comes to twitter, only to find out that #Instagramdown."

Meanwhile, the only people who seemed not to be checking Twitter at the time were the folks who run Facebook and Instagram. The company has many official accounts on Twitter, but it must have been weary of using its competitor's platform to release information. None of the verified instagram or Facebook Twitter accounts have tweeted about the blackout at the time of this writing, despite numerous messages from frustrated user.

That might have been a good choice, as many are already grumbling about Twitter's superior reliability. Without citing any real data, a number of tweets went viral, noting that it seems like Twitter experiences fewer issues than Facebook and Instagram do.

"So both #instagramdown and #facebookdown yet Twitter never goes down," someone wrote. "Whatever indestructible server Twitter's on, put the other two on it please."

Of course, there were many who treated the unexpected reprieve from social media as a chance to experiment with older forms of communication, including face to face conversations.

"As Facebook is down, I've got to talk to my wife," one person tweeted, "turns out she's actually quite nice."

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