Most people already know how embarrassing the 7-hour-long outages on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp can be, but what's even more surprising is that the crash also had a clear knock-on effect on the internet, especially its social networking peers. In fact, many other social media sites are crumbling under pressure from Facebook and Instagram users flocking to other services.
It's not just limited to one or two social media sites struggling. Instead, most notable social media sites and communication services are currently having problems, whether it's Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, Signal, or Telegram.
To prove that these sites are also overwhelmed, DownDetector's data shows that Twitter user reports have surged this afternoon US time. Since Twitter may be the closest opponent to Facebook, it's also reasonable that people will go there when Facebook is still inaccessible.
But Snapchat's situation is largely similar, and it appears to be in the midst of a sharp spike in user issue reporting. Similarly, users of WhatsApp's rival Signal began reporting problems before noon EST today, shortly after the problems on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp became apparent.
So even if Facebook and Instagram are paralyzed, they are still destroying people's lives on other social networks. If you're having trouble with any of the above sites, you can rest assured that you're not alone, but things may not get any better until Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp recover.