'Sorry, Something Went Wrong': Facebook Hit By Outage

Facebook was bombarded with user complaints that the service was down on Friday with as many as 22,583 users reporting problems at around noon ET, according to downdetector.com.

Downdetector.com, which tracks in real time website outages and problems, reported that 43 percent of users reported a total blackout, 30 percent reported login problems and 25 percent reported problems with pictures. By 3 p.m., there were 85 reports of Facebook issues.

Facebook spokesman Pete Voss said the outage was triggered by "a technical issue" that "caused some people to have trouble connecting to Facebook and it has since been resolved.’

[Related: The 10 Biggest Cloud Outages Of 2018 (So Far)]

As the outage hit, the hashtag #facebookdown trended on Twitter with user complaints and memes flowing in from around the world.

So.Social Media, which provides social media support, posted a screenshot on Twitter of a Facebook reply: "Sorry, Something Went Wrong. We're working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can."

"This is not a drill," said So.Social Media in the twitter post. "Facebook is DOWN! #facebook down."

This is not a drill. Facebook is DOWN!

The same Twitter account later said Facebook "returns again!! That was fun whilst it lasted. #FacebookBack 7 minutes of global panic."

Bob Venero, CEO of Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider Future Tech, No.115 on the CRN SP500, said he was not surprised that Facebook has not been responsive with regard to the outage given that the company faces little financial impact from the problems.

"I don’t think Facebook is going to learn a lesson from this given that at the end of the day there is not a big monetary impact on them," he said. "This kind of outage highlights just how important the solution provider community is in properly architecting a solution from the ground up for our corporate and government customers."

Venero stressed that key to any corporate solution is a strong business continuity plan if there is a website issue. "Outstanding service is how we separate ourselves from the rest of the pack," he said.