Business

When Facebook and Instagram go down, Downdetector’s comments pop off

Published

3 years ago

October 8, 2021

Editor

Has Instagram going down again left you with nowhere to shit post? Don’t worry, you can find some like-minded, platform-less folks in… the comments section on Downdetector.

That’s right, Downdetector: The website everybody uses to confirm when Facebook and Instagram are having problems. (Full disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Mashable’s parent company, ZiffDavis.)

Feeling our feelings in unlikely places.
Credit: screenshot: downdetector

You might not have realized, but the site has a comments section, powered by the popular comments hosting service Disqus. Downdetector says comments exist so people can say what they’re experiencing and share intel — and this is mostly how people use it.

“The purpose of the comments section within our website is to show the current user experience with a service,” Michelle Badrian, the communications manager at the company that runs Downdetector, Ookla, said. “We actively monitor comments displayed on Downdetector to ensure the vast majority are related to user-reported experiences with service issues.”

But often, these sections become something more. Frankly, after Instagram went down on Friday, the comments section was poppin’ off.

Any single people?
Credit: screenshot: downdetector

Yes, there were tons of people promoting their websites and services and (ironically) Instagram handles. But the Instagram comments section has also just become a place where people can talk smack, show love, and get weird.

Do you think the curse has taken effect yet?
Credit: screenshot: mashable

Everybody jokes that Twitter is where people turn when Instagram goes down. But real ones know that Downdetector is the place to go. There have been hundreds of new comments in the ~2 hours since Instagram began having problems Friday.