Impact of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram outage on businesses

Recently, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook faced a long six-hour outage. Initially, many people blamed it on their internet service provider but soon the realization that it is not the faulty internet connection but the fact that these social media platforms were actually not functioning as a shock to many. Even though many users of these platforms switched to Twitter to make memes about the same, it needs to be stated that the consequences of the outages were pretty high.

Even though the source of entertainment for many suffered because of it, many businesses suffered because of the outage too. Many users shifted to Telegram and also, the outage affected even the cryptocurrencies and the Russian oil too.

In many countries, Facebook and Instagram have become ruling platforms in many countries. In addition to serving as a source of entertainment, it is also used for messaging, live streaming, creating virtual reality along with providing many other digital services. More than 3.5 billion people, that is, approximately 50% of the total population, use one or more of these platforms for one reason or another like staying in touch with friends and family, political campaigns and running businesses.

Users Shifted From WhatsApp To Telegram
The disruption caused by WhatsApp forced many users to shift to Telegram to stay in touch with other people. Even though it did not affect other businesses, this shift certainly cost a lot to WhatsApp. Further, this outage brought a change in the Attitude Status of the people, who now instead of relying simply on one messaging app, will engage in diverse communicating platforms.

Many Small Businesses Were Shut Down Temporarily
Small businesses that emerged during the pandemic, mostly are dependent on either Facebook or Instagram for selling their products. With no other strong foundation and complete dependence on these platforms had a really bad impact on the small businesses. During the six-hour outage, many small businesses were temporarily shut down. Now even though these social media platforms are back into action, many business owners are thinking of marking their presence on other platforms too.

Facebook Shares Went Down
The biggest loss was perhaps that of Facebook. As a result of the outage, the shares of Facebook went down by 5.4%. According to an estimate by Fortune, the outage also resulted in a loss of $99.75 million in revenue. Even though for many companies, this figure is extremely significant, it is likely that this loss will be ignored by the investors of the company.

It Impacted Trading In London
Many financial institutions, even though not recommended, use platforms like WhatsApp for communicating with the clients regarding the trade especially for managing the over-the-counter markets. When WhatsApp and Facebook went down, BCB, a London-based crypto firm faced the wrath of it. For many users, the problem was that they were not unable to upload their WhatsApp Status, however, firms like that suffered low trades as these social media platforms went down during their busiest hour. The same issue was faced by many other parts of Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Domino Effect Was Created
Many other popular apps make it easier for people to log in, providing the users with the option to log in via Facebook. With the outage of Facebook, a domino effect was created where many users were not able to sign in to other apps that required permission from Facebook.

It is not unusual to see technology outages but what brought this situation to the limelight is the fact that all the social media platforms that went down were highly popular and therefore, the scenario was termed as unusual. With the outage, one lesson that the users have learned, especially the one who uses these platforms for growing their business is not to have all the eggs in one platform. After the situation, many users will surely try to mark their presence on other platforms too.

The monopolistic behaviour of Facebook which was previously not recognized by its users surely felt the burn of it. Perhaps, this is the reason why many users shifted to either Telegram or Signal after WhatsApp stopped working. Though the outage caused problems and plenty of regrets, it brought with it the lesson to ensure that it is wrong to be dependent on single platforms. No one knows what will happen if they go down again.