Facebook goes down for half an hour and we go mental

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Facebook goes down for half an hour and we go mental
Asina Pornwasin
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- On Thursday afternoon social media users were frustrated when Facebook went down for a half an hour. But it wasn't only Thais affected - millions of Facebook users in over 10 countries were affected.

Timeline of other social networks, especially Twitter, were flooded with messages saying Facebook - the world's largest social media platform - was down. The hashtag #FacebookDown trended on Twitter.

"Facebook down for 30 minutes and it trends on #Twitter for two days," @ankurmaniar said.

The response to the issue could show that most Facebook users use several social network platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and Google+.

It also begs the question: How would Thais live without Facebook?

Some users said that they did not mind if there were no Facebook as they would use another platform. But many users, both individuals and businesses, might be frustrated when Facebook is not accessible, depending on the level of their use and the degree to which their business relies on Facebook.

Due to Thailand still being under martial law and the junta administration, it is no surprise that a lot of people initially thought Facebook was shutdown by the military. But messages appeared almost immediately on the social network saying that Facebook was down in many countries.

Thailand is ranked at the top in many social media areas, such as the number of Facebook users and Line users, smartphone penetration, time spent on social media, and the number of messages and engagements on social media.

According to Zocial Inc, a social media research company, engaging with social media is the not-to-be-missed daily activity for Thais.

It surveyed with 665 people and found that 99 per cent were addicted to Facebook, followed by Line (84 per cent), Instagram (56 per cent), Google+ (41 per cent), and Twitter (30 per cent).

Thais use social media almost all the time.

They use it in bed when they wake up and just before going to sleep. Interacting on social media seems to be the first and the last activity of the day for Thais.

Eight per cent of Thais use Facebook in bed compared to 9 per cent for Instagram, 6 per cent for Twitter, and 5 per cent for Youtube.

The bathroom is also a favourite place to use social media, with 66 per cent of people using Facebook there compared to 16 per cent for Youtube, 12 per cent for Instagram, and 6 per cent for Twitter.

We love using social media on public transport, and even when we're working or in a meeting.

We have adopted social media as being a part of our daily life.

So that's why Thais were so frustrated when Facebook was down.

-- The Nation 2014-06-21

[terryp]

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

[NongKhaiKid]

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

Says a lot doesn't it ?

[Hornell]

What a pathetic state for people to get themselves into! Get a reality check you Facebook addicts, or maybe you are too far gone to go 'cold turkey'!

[Seastallion]

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

You have no empathy. Do you have ANY idea what it is like to be cut off from Candy Crush? Do you realise the anguish caused when you can't post your latest selfie or meal?

FaceBook should be declared a global essential service so that government agencies around the world can be mandated to assist should such another catastrophe occur again.

[worgeordie]

Facebook the scourge of the common people,the new religion,

opium of the masses,can you tell i don't like it,people need to get

a life.

regards worgeordie

[Guest]

People can complain about the facebook usage, but it does not change the fact that facebook and other social medias are great communication tools.

These services are for chatting as well as sharing valuable information. We use them as we wish to learn and share.

[doctormann]

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

You have no empathy. Do you have ANY idea what it is like to be cut off from Candy Crush? Do you realise the anguish caused when you can't post your latest selfie or meal?

FaceBook should be declared a global essential service so that government agencies around the world can be mandated to assist should such another catastrophe occur again.

No, Facebook should be declared a Weapon of Mass Destruction - certainly seems to be destroying people's brains!

DM

[Bluespunk]

"It surveyed with 665 people and found that 99 per cent were addicted to Facebook, followed by Line (84 per cent), Instagram (56 per cent), Google+ (41 per cent), and Twitter (30 per cent)."

Addicted?

[Payboy]

I had to wait half an hour for lunch because without the photos I wasn't sure whether I'd already had it.

[Robby nz]

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

You have no empathy. Do you have ANY idea what it is like to be cut off from Candy Crush? Do you realise the anguish caused when you can't post your latest selfie or meal?

FaceBook should be declared a global essential service so that government agencies around the world can be mandated to assist should such another catastrophe occur again.

No, Facebook should be declared a Weapon of Mass Destruction - certainly seems to be destroying people's brains!

DM

A weapon of mass disfunction would probably be a better term.

[kurnell]

That reminds me, I need to check Facebook

[doctormann]

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

You have no empathy. Do you have ANY idea what it is like to be cut off from Candy Crush? Do you realise the anguish caused when you can't post your latest selfie or meal?

FaceBook should be declared a global essential service so that government agencies around the world can be mandated to assist should such another catastrophe occur again.

No, Facebook should be declared a Weapon of Mass Destruction - certainly seems to be destroying people's brains!

DM

A weapon of mass disfunction would probably be a better term.

Agreed!

DM

[englishoak]

wouldnt miss it at all, dont see all the fuss about it and certainly dont see the point of having thousands of strangers looking at what i had for the last meal.... shallow thing that it is.

[Emptyset]

"It surveyed with 665 people and found that 99 per cent were addicted to Facebook, followed by Line (84 per cent), Instagram (56 per cent), Google+ (41 per cent), and Twitter (30 per cent)."

Addicted?

"A man was admitted to Phyatai Hospital today after suffering ill effects following an attempt to kick his Facebook habit. The man had been spending at least five hours a day on the site for the past three years. 'I was out of control', said Nong, aged just 24, 'I found myself needing to keep my friends updated with every single item of food I ate every day, and worried constantly that if I didn't share every single inane thought that came into my mind, my friends would be out of the loop or even think I was dead or something. I tried to cut down on the Facebook but I just found myself branching off into Google+ as a replacement instead. I just couldn't help myself.'

Nong's mother, Noi, aged 47, said she'd been worrying herself sick about Nong's social media habit. 'He's been unable to work, unable to study, he eats constantly because he wants more opportunities to take pictures. Every time I glance over at him he's taking a selfie. As a teenager, we thought he was just a normal boy. It started slowly, first there was myspace. Then there was the hi5. Then before you know it, he was using all the social media going and was totally off the rails. We Thais need to educate ourselves about Mark Zuckerberg and other foreigners who are pushing this stuff on our kids. I pray our new government will finally ban this evil.'

Now Noi just looks forward to her son being happy and healthy again. 'We've been to hell, and now we're on the way back', she said."

Edited June 21, 2014 by Emptyset

[chainarong]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

Says a lot doesn't it ?

Personally I couldn't give a toss

[longstebe]

Mugs game.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Bluespunk]

"It surveyed with 665 people and found that 99 per cent were addicted to Facebook, followed by Line (84 per cent), Instagram (56 per cent), Google+ (41 per cent), and Twitter (30 per cent)."

Addicted?

"A man was admitted to Phyatai Hospital today after suffering ill effects following an attempt to kick his Facebook habit. The man had been spending at least five hours a day on the site for the past three years. 'I was out of control', said Nong, aged just 24, 'I found myself needing to keep my friends updated with every single item of food I ate every day, and worried constantly that if I didn't share every single inane thought that came into my mind, my friends would be out of the loop or even think I was dead or something. I tried to cut down on the Facebook but I just found myself branching off into Google+ as a replacement instead. I just couldn't help myself.'

Nong's mother, Noi, aged 47, said she'd been worrying herself sick about Nong's social media habit. 'He's been unable to work, unable to study, he eats constantly because he wants more opportunities to take pictures. Every time I glance over at him he's taking a selfie. As a teenager, we thought he was just a normal boy. It started slowly, first there was myspace. Then there was the hi5. Then before you know it, he was using all the social media going and was totally off the rails. We Thais need to educate ourselves about Mark Zuckerberg and other foreigners who are pushing this stuff on our kids. I pray our new government will finally ban this evil.'

Now Noi just looks forward to her son being happy and healthy again. 'We've been to hell, and now we're on the way back', she said."

It's the 99% bit I really question.

(Is that story is a satire piece?)

Edited June 21, 2014 by Bluespunk

[rubl]

"It also begs the question: How would Thais live without Facebook?"

One of my worst nightmares would be to be stuck in a jampacked BTS train on a Monday morning with all Thai around me 'fondling' their mobile, or slab and suddenly ALL signals drop

[baboon]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

Says a lot doesn't it ?

Personally I couldn't give a toss

That makes two of us.

[Suradit69]

Facebook the scourge of the common people,the new religion,

opium of the masses,can you tell i don't like it,people need to get

a life.

regards worgeordie

Look on the bright side. Those busily sharing their sordid lives on Face Book can't be sharing their "thoughts" on Thai Visa at the same time. Someone should check to see if there was a sudden rise in troll posts on TV during the FB outage or if even more of the farang intelligentsia misjudged the height of their balcony railings during that time period.

[Jeremy50]

If I want 'friends' I go to my bookshelf. Facebook seems to turn people into brain dead zombies. It's what everyone does at my school, students and teachers alike, and I am talking hours a day. Imagine if this time was spent reading and studying.

[Suradit69]

And the tragedy drags on

Facebook was unavailable for many users late Friday afternoon. The outage followed a brief one on Thursday morning.

Read MoreFacebook suffers outage, Twitter goes ballistic

As with the earlier outage, many users took to Twitter with the hashtag #facebookdown and #facebookisdown to report the news.

" ... with the hashtag #facebookdown and #facebookisdown to report the news."

And the hashtag #getalife.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101769733?__source=yahoo%257cfinance%257cheadline%257cheadline%257cstory&par=yahoo&doc=101769733%257cFacebook+widely+reported+

[glcdc]

We ?? Speak for yourselves ... i dont need a bottle to go to sleep at night.

[kerrysum]

Facebook? Who gives a hoot, my Thai wife loves it, but personally it doesn't do much for me.... Too many people putting there (you know what..) on the street.... I don't have any use for it....

Just my two Satang...

Kerry

[GentlemanJim]

One day sometime soon a solar flare of huge magnitude is going to come along and put a large proportion of the planet back 25 years. Imagine having to talk to each other again! Imagine seeing couples in restaurants talking to each other instead of both separately chatting on their smart phones to their 294 friends.

Facebook - Weapon of Mass Dystopia.

Wall-E nails it!

Edited June 21, 2014 by GentlemanJim

[glcdc]

You would have to have a big imagination to imagine that lol...i cant wait untio the entire planet crashes i hope sets us back 1,000 years... won't be a need for all the dependent government programs then..facebook was designed by kids for kids..adults using facebook to post every time they take a shit are sad ..just my opinion..are we still entitled to that?? Is that ok with facebook??

[mrtoad]

The internet has actually done more to damage the art of communication, interaction and conversation than enhance it. Still can't beat a catch up with friends talking about every day things over food and drinks.

[pitrevie]

what an idiotic state, humanity is lost there is no hope for these sheple

You have no empathy. Do you have ANY idea what it is like to be cut off from Candy Crush? Do you realise the anguish caused when you can't post your latest selfie or meal?

FaceBook should be declared a global essential service so that government agencies around the world can be mandated to assist should such another catastrophe occur again.

I agree its part of my human rights, someone should to be arraigned at the Hague for this.

[Emptyset]

"It surveyed with 665 people and found that 99 per cent were addicted to Facebook, followed by Line (84 per cent), Instagram (56 per cent), Google+ (41 per cent), and Twitter (30 per cent)."

Addicted?

"A man was admitted to Phyatai Hospital today after suffering ill effects following an attempt to kick his Facebook habit. The man had been spending at least five hours a day on the site for the past three years. 'I was out of control', said Nong, aged just 24, 'I found myself needing to keep my friends updated with every single item of food I ate every day, and worried constantly that if I didn't share every single inane thought that came into my mind, my friends would be out of the loop or even think I was dead or something. I tried to cut down on the Facebook but I just found myself branching off into Google+ as a replacement instead. I just couldn't help myself.'

Nong's mother, Noi, aged 47, said she'd been worrying herself sick about Nong's social media habit. 'He's been unable to work, unable to study, he eats constantly because he wants more opportunities to take pictures. Every time I glance over at him he's taking a selfie. As a teenager, we thought he was just a normal boy. It started slowly, first there was myspace. Then there was the hi5. Then before you know it, he was using all the social media going and was totally off the rails. We Thais need to educate ourselves about Mark Zuckerberg and other foreigners who are pushing this stuff on our kids. I pray our new government will finally ban this evil.'

Now Noi just looks forward to her son being happy and healthy again. 'We've been to hell, and now we're on the way back', she said."

It's the 99% bit I really question.

(Is that story is a satire piece?)

Yes, it's satire lol. I think there's a distinction between addiction and heavy usage which is perhaps bordering on unhealthy but is otherwise consistent with a normal life. Addiction would be when it begins to severely affect other areas of your life, so much so that you've cut off meeting friends in the outside world and are entirely substituting online relationships etc. But most people use it to communicate and facilitate "real world" meetings, events and so on.

I do think these things affect people significantly as you're always only ever half focused on your immediate surroundings whilst you're constantly networked and online. But that's just... well we're not going to go back to the time when we lived without the internet barring an apocalyptic event, so it's something to adapt to. And there's nothing to stop people opting out entirely - though that's becoming increasingly difficult...