We use social media sites for different reasons. For instance, users come to Twitter to express themselves and their opinions. But that is not the only thing they can do on the platform. Each visit on Twitter gives users knowledge about different things. Through the Tweets of others, they learn about the recent news and issues. That applies to both small and large scales. On the smaller side, users can learn about what their friends are doing through what they post on Twitter. Then, on the larger side, users can stay updated with recent controversies and developments around the world, thanks to Twitter.
Aside from those, we can also go to Twitter to improve our skills. We can follow the accounts of experts in our field. Twitter even allows us to talk and interact with them. Moreover, we can post our works on the platform and gather feedback. Feedback is essential for the growth of our brand, and social media provides a space where we can get them easily.
Speaking of brands, users can also use Twitter to promote their businesses and products. Because there are so many users of the platform, it became an ideal place for advertisements. Companies and business people can leverage Twitter’s reach to connect to a wide audience.
How Twitter Outages Impacted Twitter Followers
We also cannot overlook social media’s primary purpose. Their primary purpose is to connect people and communities, making them real Twitter followers of other Twitter followers. On them, people of different races, nationalities, religions, and beliefs gather to exchange words. These public conversations lead to people having a better understanding of each other. Simply put, they help improve relations.
It is undeniable that we can do two or three of these things on other websites. But, in social media platforms like Twitter, we can do them all. There is no need for an extra tab or window. From a technical standpoint, that saves RAM, which allows the device to run faster.
Twitter offers a lot of conveniences. Whether we admit it or not, people have been relying on it way too much. That is why when problems on the platform occur, the news spread like wildfire. Just like real wildfire, it causes panic and frustration.
July 1 Twitter Outage
Twitter started July on an unlucky note. It did not go down completely. But, thousands of users have reported that they are experiencing issues while using the micro-blogging site.
Several users reported failure in loading tweets, viewing profiles, and expanding threads. They are displayed just right on the home page or the feed. However, upon clicking them, users are met with an error message. They can’t even view their own profiles. When they try to do so, they are met with a message that says, “Something went wrong, try reloading.”
Furthermore, some users reported that they were not able to delete Tweets. On top of that, they cannot recheck the recent Tweets.
Users started the trend ‘Twitter is Down’ to raise awareness about the problem. Some treated the issue lightly and even posted memes to make fun of the situation. Meanwhile, some are annoyed as their schedule was affected by the problem.
Twitter quickly acknowledged the problem and immediately worked to get it fixed. They put the message “Something went wrong, but don’t fret– It’s not your fault” on the profiles of the affected accounts.
“Profiles’ Tweets may not be loading for some of you on the web,” wrote Twitter. “We’re currently working on a fix. Thanks for sticking with us!”
According to Downdetector, who tracks website outages, Twitter was down since 7:03 am IST for Indian users. The problem was not exclusive to Indians, though, as reports came from all over the world.
Based on the data collected by Downdetector, 78% of the complainants faced issues on the web version. The rest were not able to access the mobile app. Android users were more affected than IOS users.
Other Cases Of Twitter Outages
The July 1 incident was not the first time Twitter experienced an outage this year. On April 16, Friday, users also reported an outage. It started at around 5 pm Pacific time. Luckily, it only took half an hour before the issue was fixed. Unsurprisingly, that was enough time for 5,000 reports to be submitted to the Downdetector website.
During the incident, desktop users received a white screen with an error message. It reads, “Upstream connect error or disconnect/reset before headers. reset reason: connection failure.” Meanwhile, an error message that says, “Something went wrong. Try again.” was displayed on twitter.com. Likewise, the message “Tweets aren’t loading right now” was displayed on the mobile app.
It was the second time Twitter experienced an outage in three weeks.
Aside from problems in its systems, Twitter can also experience downtime caused by factors out of its control. For instance, in a more recent case, Twitter -alongside other giant websites like Reddit – experienced problems caused by Fastly. This happened in June when an error on the content delivery network caused several websites to be inaccessible.
While Twitter did not completely go down, some of its features have bugged. Users were not able to use emojis and multimedia, as pictures fail to appear on both the mobile app and website. It remained that way until Fastly finally solved the issue.
Conclusion
Due to the persisting problem, the netizens have joked about Twitter permanently going down. They compared it to going back to the stone age. That seems like a stretch. Losing Twitter is not the same as losing computers or electricity. But, it shows how much society has gotten accustomed to always having access to social media sites. These platforms have spoiled the people of today. As a result, we have gotten used to the convenience they provide. Thus, it isn’t easy, discomforting even, to think about a future where Twitter does not exist.
Looking through a positive perspective, incidents like this serve as a reminder. There is more to life than social media. Platforms like Twitter are only meant to make our lives easier. They are not made, so our entire lives would revolve around them. If 30 minutes or an hour of downtime does not bother you, be proud. That means you are using the platform responsibly.