Reterdeen Staff
Last week Wednesday, Facebook as well as its sister networks – Whatsapp, Instagram and Messenger experienced a massive blackout. The social networking apps were all down for almost the entire day, sending a lot of people into frenzy. What is now being tagged ‘the great blackout of 2019’ was initially reported to have been caused by hackers and DDOS attacks. These reports made a lot of people start worrying about their safety and the safety of their businesses. A lot of people have been calling for Facebook to explain the real cause of the shutdown. However, the social media giants came out on Thursday to say that the blackout was caused by a ‘Server Configuration Change’ and that we had nothing to worry about.
Even with this explanation, a lot of people are still uneasy about what happened. Although the shutdown gave us a little taste of what life would be without social media, it also caused huge losses for some businesses based on social media. Facebook initially said that they were considering whether to refund business owners for ads not delivered, but you and I know that it’s quite unlikely. And it also reminds us of one of Facebook’s terms of service which states:
“We cannot predict when issues might arise with our products. Accordingly, our liability shall be limited to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, under no circumstance will we be liable for any los profits, revenues, information, or data, or consequential, special, indirect, exemplary, punitive, or incidental damages arising out of, related to, Facebook Products, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.”
In my candid opinion, this is a wake up call for businesses that depend on Facebook for their everyday marketing. The fact that Facebook and all its affiliated platforms can fall back to the above clause should make people realize that they can’t always depend on Facebook. If you and your business falls in this category, then this blackout should make you realize that its time to begin to diversify your processes. Start looking out for other options to reach your desired clientele. With the above clause, you should now know that your business is vulnerable by depending on just one platform.
Use this blackout as a push to wake up.
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