Social media users around the country are in a panic because Facebook and Instagram have been having difficulties. Throughout the afternoon on Wednesday, March 13, outages across the country were reported that left users unable to access the popular platforms.
According to downdetector.com, there have been over 5,000 reports of problems since 11 am. Central.
Here is a look at the highest volume of reported outages, as first passed along by The Tennessean:
Downdetector.com
While it is not yet clear what led to the outage, they continue to grow around the world.
“We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps,” a Facebook spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement. “We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”
Shortly before the outages began increasing in volume, some Facebook users noticed a message that hinted at “scheduled maintenance.” The message read: “Facebook is down for required maintenance right now, but you should be able to get back on within a few minutes.” The Facebook Help Center provides some additional information on that specific message:
This usually means we’re making an improvement to the database your account is stored on. While this process won’t affect your account, you temporarily won’t be able to access the site. Keep in mind, we don’t do site maintenance on all accounts at the same time. It’s possible that your friends will be able to access the site while your account is still unavailable.
Because Facebook owns Instagram, the photo-sharing service has also experienced some outages. The good news for WhatsApp users, however, is that the messaging app also owned by Facebook seems to have avoided any issues.
While the internet continues to sit around and wait from Facebook and Instagram to come back up, perhaps we could all take some time to read a book or, you know, have some real human interaction.
