Where were you during the social media outage of 2021?Getty Images
Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp sustained a major outage around the world on Monday, October 4 - in case you hadn't heard.
Twitter, of course, was waiting with open arms as the masses flocked to get their social media fix:
hello literally everyone
— Twitter (@Twitter) October 4, 2021
Facebook, who owns Instagram and WhatsApp, apologized for the massive outage on Monday night, and noted: "We want to make clear that there was no malicious activity behind this outage — its root cause was a faulty configuration change on our end."
While we're sure things were a bit frantic at FB HQ on Monday, there was plenty of banter to be had on Twitter, especially amongst the Irish. Here are some of the best Irish reactions to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp outages:
Donie O'Sullivan, CNN's resident Irish correspondent who frequently covers technology, was quick to respond to the outage:
This is me trolling, btw.
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) October 4, 2021
Doireann Garrihy, an Irish radio presenter, had O'Sullivan in her thoughts:
How I’m picturing @donie right now https://t.co/euLwmIi4ff pic.twitter.com/Jxmlqcjl7M
— Doireann Garrihy (@DoireannGarrihy) October 4, 2021
Blindboy from The Rubberbandits attempted to explain in layman's terms what happened to cause the massive outage:
TLDR. Facebook closed the hotel door with the keycard and its passport inside. Now it is nude in the foyer trying to convince the night porter that its name is Facebook. https://t.co/Dib9JAp2m0
— The Blindboy Podcast (@Rubberbandits) October 4, 2021
Rob O'Hanrahan, a reporter with Virgin Media News in Ireland, made sure to highlight how Twitter is always ahead of the curve:
Facebook and Instagram down, meaning it will now be June 2023 (rather than June 2022) before today's funny tweets make their way onto your uncle's timeline.
— Rob O'Hanrahan (@RobOHanrahan) October 4, 2021
Richard Chambers, a correspondent with Virgin Media News in Ireland, shared this cheeky comment from an Irish politician about WhatsApp being down:
A text (an actual SMS, in the year 2021) from a politician this evening: "Would have been a good evening to hold a Cabinet meeting with WhatsApp out of order."
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) October 4, 2021
James Kavanagh, an Irish social media personality, panicked ...
IS EVERYONE ALIVE
— Spooky Bitch Kavanagh 🎃 (@JamesKavanagh_) October 4, 2021
...while Irish actor Liam Cunningham got very existential:
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are down. You no longer exist.
— liam cunningham 🏴☠️ (@liamcunningham1) October 4, 2021
Michael Fry, an Irish comedian, poked fun at the infrequent Twitter users wading into unchartered territory:
People you went to school with logging in to their dormant Twitter account now that Instagrams down. pic.twitter.com/UsWkcZB9Px
— Michael Fry (@BigDirtyFry) October 4, 2021
Some Irish brands made sure to hop on the banter train as well, including Dublin Airport:
Has anyone checked MySpace yet? pic.twitter.com/sHOv9xxY7n
— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) October 4, 2021
...and Mr. Tayto ....
The constant refreshing of my other apps is sending me over the edge 😬 so I’ve joined everyone else over here laughing at the memes 🤣#OutageAlert
— Mr.Tayto Ireland (@MrTaytoIreland) October 4, 2021
...As well as TG4, which is perhaps Ireland's most humorous Twitter account:
Twitter anocht: pic.twitter.com/Scho3mSd6s
— TG4TV 👁️ (@TG4TV) October 4, 2021
The satirical Irish news site Waterford Whispers was quick to report on the new world order:
People Take To Shouting Status Updates In The Street As Facebook Experiences Problems https://t.co/SeNxTvOh9a
— WWN (@WhispersNewsLTD) October 4, 2021
In the end, there was only one man who could fix the massive problem - Co Roscommon native Chris O'Dowd:
Fixed it. Sorry. You won’t believe what worked. #facebookdown
— chris o'dowd (@BigBoyler) October 4, 2021