It was already a brutal moment for Facebook. The social media goliath had just capped off a week of negative press around its halted Instagram Kids project with a bombshell 60 Minutes interview, in which a whistleblower detailed how the company has misled the public about its efforts to curb misinformation and hate speech.
In timing that may or may not be coincidental, however, the situation further deteriorated on Monday morning when Facebook and its other platforms, WhatsApp and Instagram, suffered their worst outages in recent memory.
Confirmed: The DNS records that tell systems how to find https://t.co/qHzVq2Mr4E or https://t.co/JoIPxXI9GI got withdrawn this morning from the global routing tables. Can you imagine working at FB right now, when your email no longer works & all your internal FB-based tools fail?
— briankrebs (@briankrebs) October 4, 2021
Adding insult to injury for the troubled juggernaut, Facebook’s misfortune has been a bonanza for other social media companies, namely Twitter, which has been rife with memes about the mishap.
Some of the memes gleefully highlight Mark Zuckerberg’s personal misfortune and extra full plate at the moment.
#facebookdown #WhatsAppDown#instagramdown
Mark Zuckerberg trying to fix the WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. pic.twitter.com/KaH0HKcNSg— Pramod G (@gapat_pramod) October 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/shankyhelia/status/1445093709490495497
Mark zuckerberg Working so hard to fix the gad damn error 😂😂 #DeleteFacebook #WhatsApp pic.twitter.com/ooxMgezyl8
— Ateeq khawaja (@22Atee) October 4, 2021
Other memes depict the avalanche of Facebook users suddenly deluging Twitter due to a lack of other options.
Me coming on Twitter after FB, IG and Whatsapp go down……#serverdown #facebookdown #instagramdown pic.twitter.com/7Wqg9pi6n4
— …… (@TheHM16) October 4, 2021
Whatsapp, facebook and instagram users arriving at twitter just to check if it's down 😹#whatsappdown #facebookdown.. pic.twitter.com/74aqpVyOHT
— కొమరం పులి (@SingleMan122) October 4, 2021
People Using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp going to playstore to install Telegram and Twitter 😂😂#Facebook #facebookdown #serverdown #DeleteFacebook #Instagram #Facebook #Telegram pic.twitter.com/AN2zvdnP0e
— anil (@anilnaag) October 4, 2021
Several Twitterers used the most popular TV show in the world at the moment, Netflix’s Squid Game, to make this point, in ways that will be too complicated to explain for anyone who has not already watched Squid Game.
#facebookdown
Player Facebook – Eliminated
Player Instagram – Eliminated
Player Whatsapp – Eliminated
Only Twitter, Tiktok & Telegram made it to the next round.
Game 3 starts soon…#whatsappdown #facebookdown pic.twitter.com/usDlliiI9Y— Janak raj yadav (@JanakRajYadav1) October 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/OnlyFans____/status/1445088409735806983
Even Dolly Parton got in on the action, highlighting Facebook’s misfortunes on its competitor’s turf.
https://twitter.com/DollyParton/status/1445091714444808202
Of course, Twitter itself had to weigh in, leading to a truly bizarre collision of social media brands, and brands in general, gleefully commemorating the occasion together.
https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/1445078208190291973
Hey there 👋
— OnlyFans (@OnlyFans) October 4, 2021
How are you doing, Instagram social media manager?
— Reddit (@Reddit) October 4, 2021
Pizza’s a good way to pass the time too
— Domino's Pizza UK (@Dominos_UK) October 4, 2021
HEYYYYYY-AHHH!
— Metallica (@Metallica) October 4, 2021
And, of course, finally, there were plenty of memes about how much Twitter was enjoying itself on this particular day.
Everybody coming to Twitter to check that what happened to WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook 😭😭#WhatsApp #instagramdown #facebookdown pic.twitter.com/PLCLqcW1iG
— Stranger (@StrangerExpose) October 4, 2021
Whatsapp, Facebook & Instagram is down.#Twitter Headquarters :😂 pic.twitter.com/u8Ss172ugS
— Zehen (@sobirhussain111) October 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/bawredcat/status/1445092537551704074
Visual representation of the situation 😂😂#WhatsApp #facebookdown pic.twitter.com/bm8qcc9nuJ
— Nhi ho rha (@itzhamas) October 4, 2021
The lesson here is, whether you’re just an average worker or the head of a major social media company, always strive to comport yourself in such a way that others will not turn the worst day of your career into a makeshift national holiday.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
