Facebook and Tumblr: Two Internet Giants Go Down the Same Week

In the past we’ve talked about using Social Media sites to communicate with your customers when your website goes down. We’ve touted the benefits of Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. We’ve also stated that you need to utilize more than one social media outlet to have all your bases covered. This week is a perfect example of why.

Facebook and Tumblr Take a Hit

This week Facebook and Tumblr both faced Internet outages. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, some of the Internet community goes into a panic. There were tweets all over Twitter about the site outages. The tweeted messages show just how much the public has come to rely upon these sites.

Twitter member Waj tweeted, “Facebook was down almost 20 minutes. For some, these were the most productive 20 minutes of the year.” Another Twitter member, Peter Shankman, joked, “Doesn't anyone else realize that Facebook being down was the Mayan's doing a test run? Sheesh.” And then there were tweets of panic, like the tweet Jay Brannan tweeted, stating, “FACEBOOK IS DOWN!!! FACEBOOK IS DOWN!!! FACEBOOK IS DOWN!!! FACEBOOK IS DOWN!!! IM SUFFOCATINGGGGGGGGG FACEBOOK IS DOWN!!! FACEBOOK IS DOWN!”

Facebook was only down for twenty minutes, but the website outage definitely made an impression. When Tumblr went down, it was just as notable. Twitter member Marianne tweeted, “I didn't care that Facebook went down but when it happens to #tumblr panic sets in.” And there were plenty of other tweets similar, bemoaning the Tumblr website outage.

What’s the Lesson?

So what’s the lesson here, other than the fact that even the biggest of websites can suffer downtime? The lesson is that you need to be affiliated with more than one social media site. If you only have a Facebook page, what happens if your site goes down and you need to communicate with your customers and Facebook is down at the same time? Your customers will be left in the dark, and that’s the last thing you want. If, on the other hand, you have a Twitter account and a Facebook account along with a Tumblr account, chances are that not all three of these social media giants will be down at the same time. Even if one of the giants is down when your site goes down, there will be other social media forums for you to turn to in order to communicate with your customers.

Remember, social media is the life blood of Internet communication. Make sure you are utilizing all of the mediums available to you and that you don’t put all your eggs into one basket. If you do, you might find that the “basket” isn’t there when you need it the most.