Tag: facebook outage

  • Meta outage due to “technical issue” knocks out Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp

    Meta outage due to “technical issue” knocks out Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp

    When a tech company as big as Meta has an outage, the effects are felt pretty far and wide. Such was the case Wednesday when an outage knocked out a range of Meta services.

    Primarily affecting Facebook and Instagram, other Meta platforms such as Messenger, Threads and WhatsApp also had noticeable issues. The outage began around 9:30 AM PST and services didn’t begin loading again until 2:30 PM with some of the side effects such as messages disappearing or random error messages continuing throughout the day.

    To their credit, Meta did respond quickly to the outage posting a statement on X that reads “We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.”

    As is usually the case though there were no transparent details behind the cause of the outage. This outage pales in comparison to the one we reported on in 2021 where the Facebook.com domain even appeared for sale briefly under Whois lookups.

    When you’re a company as big as Meta you can somewhat get away with less than transparent responses and a “sorry for the inconvenience” but for most businesses, responding to service disruptions is an important part of doing business.

    Here are four ways we recommend responding to service disruptions in a way that still puts customer satisfaction at the forefront (even when you’re dealing with a stressful situation):

    1. Prompt and Transparent Communication
    • What to do: Inform customers immediately about the outage through multiple channels, such as email, SMS, and social media. Clearly state what happened, what is being done to fix it, and provide an estimated timeline for resolution.
    • Why it matters: Transparency builds trust and reassures customers that the company is taking the issue seriously.
    1. Offer Apologies and Show Empathy
    • What to do: Issue a sincere apology acknowledging the inconvenience caused. Use empathetic language to show you understand the impact on customers.
    • Why it matters: Customers are more likely to forgive a company that demonstrates empathy and acknowledges their frustration.
    1. Provide Regular Updates
    • What to do: Keep customers updated throughout the resolution process, even if there are no significant changes. Communicate progress at consistent intervals.
    • Why it matters: Regular updates show that the issue is being actively addressed and reduce customer anxiety and speculation.
    1. Offer Compensation or Goodwill Gestures
    • What to do: Depending on the severity of the outage, offer compensation such as credits, discounts, refunds, or a goodwill gesture like free services for a limited period.
    • Why it matters: Compensation can turn a negative experience into a positive one, demonstrating that the company values its customers’ loyalty and time.

    If technical outages in your business are causing service disruptions for your customer, Valley Techlogic is the solution. We prioritize maintaining our customers’ uptime so that outages don’t affect their bottom line. Reach out today to schedule a consultation and take advantage of our holiday offer going on now.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, leading provider of trouble free IT services for businesses in California including Merced, Fresno, Stockton & More. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/valley-techlogic-inc/.

  • Yesterday, Facebook experienced their worst outage since 2008

    Yesterday, Facebook experienced their worst outage since 2008

    Yesterday if you were trying to login to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or even Oculus VR you wouldn’t have had much luck. Facebook experienced their worst outage since 2008 (when a bug caused the site to be down for an entire day). They were down for just over 6 hours as a world that suddenly found themselves with more time on their hands speculated why.

    For a brief period, the domain Facebook.com was even for sale if you performed a search for the domain on a domain name search website.

    While many thought it could be an attack on their networks, such as what’s been happening in the VoIP sector lately, others speculated the outage was related to the fire Facebook has been under lately for their business practices.

    On Sunday, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen – a former Facebook project manager – went public on how Facebooks policies prioritize profits over their user’s wellbeing. She was the person responsible for the massive data dump that showed Facebook’s algorithms even optimize for hate speech. She noted these problems also exist at Google and Pinterest, other companies she’s performed similar duties for, but that the problem is much worst at Facebook.

    Mark Zuckerberg Meme
    There have been no shortage of memes taking shots at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg following the outage.

    Hearings begin this week analyzing the whistleblower findings, particularly as they relate to children on these sites. Amid the controversy Facebook has shelved plans for an Instagram Kids app, though Facebook claims the delay is so they can better analyze the needs of children and parents before moving forward with the app.

    The main crux of the case has to do with both the deluge of data and how major players such as Facebook (and likely beyond) serve that data to their users. It’s a tricky situation because you don’t want to stifle free speech but promoting hate speech and negative imagery, especially to vulnerable audiences such as children, is also wrong.

    There is so much more to the case then we can get to here but suffice to say hearings such as these play an important role in how we as a society consume and regulate data.

    Back to the topic at hand though, after being down for 6 hours Facebook finally emerged although they did so with little in the way of answers as to why their domains were down to the first place. They’ve issued an apology for the outage but beyond that silence.

    Experts who have weighed in speculate the issue had to do with Facebooks DNS (Domain Name System), and anonymous comments that have surfaced from employees said they don’t think the downtime was caused by an attack.

    Some reports have even said during the outage functions inside Facebook offices ground to a halt, with some employees being unable to even use their keycards which could have also contributed to the lengthy delay in fixing the problem.

    Outages such as these should cause even smaller businesses to take a hard look at their technology practices. If Facebook, with the resources they have available, can be brought to a standstill for hours over potentially a small issue such as DNS how would your business fare when faced with a similar issue?

    Downtime adds up, but it doesn’t have to. Having a partner in technology like Valley Techlogic is the number one way your business can avoid the hassle, expense, and embarrassment of lengthy downtime. Find out more today.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, adns, n IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.