Can you read me now? Good! Gmail and other Google services such as Google+ and YouTube suffered from a service outage Friday, affecting hundreds of millions across the globe. So what caused the mysterious outage? Well, that has yet to be determined.
According to the Chicago Tribune , Google first acknowledged the outage at 11:12 am Pacific Time. It wasn’t long before the company announced that service had been restored for some users, and said that it was “expecting a resolution for all users in the near future.”
“We’re investigating reports of an issue with Gmail. We will provide more information shortly,” the company said on its “App Status” dashboard online, which tracks the state of various Google services.
Upset users quickly took to the internet to question what exactly was going on. Comments appeared on multiple social media outlets, but Twitter seemed to have been the most active. Check out some of these tweets:
GOOGLE+ IS STILL DOWN! How will I use it to send Gmail to people I don’t know but who have Google+ accounts?
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 24, 2014
Me when I realize #gmail is down pic.twitter.com/4GsOBMgpI3
— Darth Vader (@DepressedDarth) January 24, 2014
This is what happened when your Gmail was down. pic.twitter.com/ZDfZ0Niokq
— Stay Puft (@StayPuft) January 24, 2014
“Grandpa, where were you when Gmail went down?” Oh, I sweated out those five minutes my child, in fear and uncertainty.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 24, 2014
First person to tie the Gmail outage to Bieber wins a Pulitzer. GO.
— Tim Stevens (@Tim_Stevens) January 24, 2014
1) Bieber is arrested 2) Gmail goes down 3) Locusts pic.twitter.com/AkBtQkZiNn
— @midnight (@midnight) January 24, 2014
You know that “rule” that if your professor doesn’t show in 15 min, everyone goes home? Let’s do that for Gmail being down. START THE CLOCK.
— E! Online (@eonline) January 24, 2014
Even if gmail is down you can still read a book so I’m not sure why everyone is freaking out.
— Harper Perennial (@HarperPerennial) January 24, 2014
OH MY GOD GMAIL IS DOWN AND NOW I HAVE TO DECIDE WHICH OF MY NEIGHBORS TO MAKE INTO JERKY IN THIS APOCALYPSE
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) January 24, 2014
Fret not my fellow internet junkies! For the outage seems to be over, and all Gmail and Google programs seem to be returning to normal. The Huffington Post reported that as of 3:23 pm Eastern Standard Time, Gmail was back up and running . Google posted the following statement on its App Status Dashboard:
“The problem with Gmail should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.”
[Image by antb / Shutterstock.com ]
