Instagram Goes Down Tuesday, Sets Off Temporary Social Media Exodus To Twitter
Tuesday proved to be a day of infamy for social media enthusiasts as Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app, went down for a few hours. During the duration of the outage, avid Instagram users ended up going on a brief exodus to micro-blogging veteran Twitter to check if Instagram was indeed down. While the ubiquitous photo-sharing app eventually went back online, an official word about the brief Instagram outage has been scarce, with the social media platform not issuing any statement as of writing.
Numerous social media users initially reported the Instagram issues starting 1:09 p.m. EDT, according to a report from RT News. During this time, users of the platform noted that they could not post photos or videos, comment on posts, or even give likes. Many have even pointed out that they were unable to load the Instagram News Feed, completely cutting off their access to the photo-sharing application. Once it became apparent that the Instagram issue was not isolated to their specific devices, numerous users of the popular social media platform decided to do some more investigating, by going to Twitter to check if the photo-sharing app was indeed down.
Multiple users across the globe were significantly affected by Instagram’s downtime, with users from parts of the UK, Europe, and the United States seemingly getting the brunt of the issue. Down Detector, a website dedicated to tracking sites which are offline, have confirmed that the Instagram outage on Tuesday was indeed across the board. Similar services such as Is The Service Down have also come up with similar findings.
? Instagram is having issues since May 16 10:45 AM. ? https://t.co/qRZxA3JHQo RT if you are also having issues #InstagramDown pic.twitter.com/QxEtJtMySc
— Is The Service Down? (@IsServiceDown) May 16, 2017
Deprived of their capability to explore and interact with the iconic photo-sharing application, many Instagram users began using Twitter once more. Over the course of the Instagram downtime, Twitter was briefly set aflame by the number of social media users posting GIFs, videos, and pictures showing their reactions to the loss of the internet’s premier photo-sharing platform. The hashtag #instagramdown also trended on Twitter during the height of the interruption.
While Instagram was down, social media enthusiasts shared numerous anecdotes about how the absence of Instagram has affected their internet use. Numerous users said that once Instagram appeared down, they immediately blamed their ISPs, with some even stating that they ended up purchasing more mobile data so that they could connect to the application. Others simply went back and forth from Instagram to Twitter in order to check and confirm the issue, until the photo-sharing app was back up.
Unsurprisingly, the exodus to the micro-blogging website was sweet and brief at the same time. Once Instagram was back online and users were able to access the photo-sharing app once more, social media enthusiasts simply flocked back to the popular image-driven social media platform.
In addition to face filters, we’re rolling out “Rewind,” a hashtag sticker and an eraser brush in the camera! https://t.co/zfVyqiRWWk pic.twitter.com/N0gIn3mcT0
— Instagram (@instagram) May 16, 2017
While Instagram has remained quite silent about the recent outage of its services, many users have come up with speculations about what might have caused the brief breakdown of the photo-sharing service. Discussions in online forums such as Reddit, for example, saw users speculating if the Instagram downtime was the result of a simple server error or if it was triggered by something far more malicious, such as a possible cyber attack.
Some users have also speculated that the system issue might have been the result of an update to the photo-sharing app. Before the widespread downtime, Instagram rolled out its Snapchat-esque AR face filters, which were supposed to be available to members of the photo-sharing community starting today. Unfortunately for some users, however, they remained unable to access the new feature even after Instagram went back online and got updated.
For now, Instagram has gotten back online, though the reasons behind its mysterious breakdown on Tuesday remain unknown. With the social media platform getting back on its feet, avid users of the photo-sharing app have settled down and begun uploading, interacting, sharing, and liking posts once more.
[Featured Image by Carl Court/Getty Images]
