Facebook crashes; netizens in panic

MANILA, Philippines - Facebook’s website crashed briefly yesterday, temporarily preventing computer and mobile phone users from accessing the site around the globe.

Using #facebookdown, netizens poked fun at Facebook’s meltdown and its effects on their lives. #Facebookdown trended on Twitter worldwide.

Twitter user @marklittlenews posted: “I imagine millions wandering in aimless post-apocalyptic shock desperately searching for friends and family.”

User @jessehnz tweeted: “Facebook is down. Teenagers of the world prepare for the apocalypse with only tweets and Instagram selfies to help them.”

“Facebook is down, but it’s ok. There’s still texting. Let’s hug,” user @Telstra posted.

Another user @indiantweeter tweeted: “As Facebook servers crash, Facebookiyas come on streets asking people personally to send candy crush requests.”

Meanwhile, user @mrbrown was relieved when the site went back up. “Facebook is back up again. In the longest downtime in recent history. Twenty whole minutes. The world can breathe again.”

Twitter user @1rgcruz even quipped: “#facebookdown is poised to upstage revilla’s arrest.” The Sandiganbayan yesterday found probable cause to warrant the arrest of Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. for his alleged involvement in the pork barrel fund scam.

During the outage, Facebook users from Australia to the Philippines, from South Korea to India and Britain were greeted with a message saying “Sorry, something went wrong.”

The cause of the outage was not immediately known. Its exact duration could not be confirmed but service was restored in less than an hour.

It prevented users from posting on the social networking site “for a brief period of time,” a Facebook spokesman said.

“We resolved the issue quickly, and we are now back to 100 percent,” he said. “We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”