The disruption of Facebook services and the company’s other apps has led to a mass displacement of millions of users, not only. Here’s what happened.
The downtime lasted six hours, which on Monday, October 4, the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp functions were blocked entirely. Six hours have had their weight not only on the trio of companies under Mark Zuckerberg’s wing but also on users globally who have moved elsewhere to stay in touch with each other.
To pay the costs of blocking the systems of the two social networks and the instant messaging app where the users, unable to access their respective platforms and the companies connected to the frozen apps. At least according to the first rumours that emerged a few hours after restored the operation.
CEO of Telegram has communicated that the application has seen the growth of its audience with 70 million new subscribers, all in a single day. A high and unusual figure, the result of the complex situation experienced in those difficult moments.
Telegram, a Lucky Down
According to what was reported by TechCrunch, Telegram’s father would have sent a communication through his channel stressing that the app has ” welcomed over 70 million refugees from other platforms in one day “. In addition to the registrations, the platform also had to keep up with the increase in traffic, connected to the exponential growth in users.
” I am proud of how our team has managed unprecedented growth because Telegram has continued to work flawlessly for the vast majority of our users, ” Pavel Durov wrote in the message. ” That said – added the CEO – some in the Americas may have encountered a slower speed than usual as millions of users from these continents rushed to sign up for Telegram “.
Telegram And WhatsApp, The Fight Continues
The rivalry between the two platforms has long been known. WhatsApp has been and remains one of the most popular messaging apps globally, reaching the status of most used in some countries, including Brazil. As happened in the past, service interruptions push users on competitors on the market every time, namely Telegram, Signal and iMessage, dedicated to users with Apple- branded devices.
What we rarely see, however, is the migration of such massive masses of users. These are rarer phenomena but which, in this case, could find an explanation in the block of three of the main channels in the world, Facebook (with its Messenger rib) and WhatsApp in the lead. Not being able to fall back alternatively on one or the other application, the subscribers were forced to opt for different realities, finding in Telegram a quick and already well-known solution.
Facebook Down, Even On Wall Street
Indeed, the issue has provided a significant boost to the undecided who, in light of the different features present on Telegram, It could decide in the long-distance to remain on the platform of the paper aeroplane. This is not good news for Zuckerberg, who, during the crime, saw his assets drop by 6 billion dollars, so much so that he dropped to 5th place on Bloomberg’s list of the wealthiest scroungers in the world.
The group’s shares, which fell by 4.9% only on Monday, give a further blow to the fall of 15% already underway since mid-September. What’s behind it? Certainly not exclusively technical problems, but also some facts related to the leakage of private documents recently brought into the spotlight by an informant.
Not only would the technological bugs for the tycoon’s products be fought, but issues such as the negative influence of Instagram on the mental health of adolescents and the fake news round about the clashes that took place last January 6 at the Capitol in Washington and information contained in the reports released by the whistleblower that would have attracted the attention of the US government.
What will happen in the future? We’ll see. For now, what makes the experts stand up the most is knowing how many will abandon the shores of Telegram in the next few days to return to the old shores. All that remains, therefore, is to wait.
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