Social media is all the rage these days. And these days, rage might be an understatement.
Last week, Twitter experienced the longest service disruption since its hour long outage in October 2011, causing an internet freak-out. Known for its history of similar outages, it didn’t take long for the user base to divert attention to other social media platforms like Tumblr, Instagram, or Facebook.
Just as Twitter came back online, Facebook became headline news. As the media leaked the “stalker app,” Facebook’s user base erupted after being set up with an @facebook.com email address listed on the ‘info’ page. While a Facebook spokesperson explained that it was an attempt to provide consistency for everyone, users again flooded Twitter and other social media outlets with complaints of yet another Facebook oversight. Seemingly, Facebook has earned a reputation for doing first then asking for permission, or rather, forgiveness later.
Despite the rising popularity for all things social, users still maintain control over engagement. A majority of users are active on more than one social media platform, making it almost impossible for Twitter and Facebook to prevent the next freak out.