# Meanwhile, at Facebook: Outages and Name Changes

- Link: https://chatterblast.com/blog/meanwhile-at-facebook-outages-and-name-changes/
- Published: 2019-08-07T20:10:55-04:00
- Author: Kierstyn Schneck

If you had trouble posting to your **Instagram** or **Facebook** this past weekend,
you were far from alone. Facebook, and by extension Instagram, experienced another
global outage this past Sunday morning. Users took to **Twitter** to vent, cry, 
and ask the same question: _What gives, Facebook?_

https://twitter.com/hicoolercam101/status/1158044841621635072

> Seeing the world for the first time after [#FacebookDown](https://twitter.com/hashtag/FacebookDown?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/nK2Cww6YQf](https://t.co/nK2Cww6YQf)
> — Aegon Targaryen (@jonaryastark) [August 4, 2019](https://twitter.com/jonaryastark/status/1158018340775849985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

This is not the first time users took to Twitter en masse to meme away their feelings.
The platform experienced a similar outage in mid-June and again [over the Fourth of July weekend](https://twitter.com/facebook/status/1146453213777936386),
making this the third outage this summer.  

What’s causing these outages? Well, Facebook has been vague with the details. In
July, a “[routine maintenance operation](https://twitter.com/FBBusiness/status/1146502990460620800)”
accidentally triggered a bug that affected uploading and posting images. After each
occurrence, Facebook tells us the issue is resolved. Yet, as the frequency of these
issues increase, many users are left wondering what Facebook is actually doing to
prevent more outages.  

Well, good news, folks: Facebook is taking action and making some changes…sort of.
In case you were ever confused by who exactly is the cause of these outages on your
favorite platforms, Facebook is about to clear everything up for you. 

Introducing: “Instagram from Facebook” and “WhatsApp from Facebook”. That’s right,
your favorite apps are getting a new name from Papa Zuck. 

> Facebook is rebranding Instagram and WhatsApp as "Instagram from Facebook" and"
> WhatsApp from Facebook":[https://t.co/aU54Bv0XKg](https://t.co/aU54Bv0XKg) [pic.twitter.com/C5I2qtlcKr](https://t.co/C5I2qtlcKr)
> — Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) [August 6, 2019](https://twitter.com/BusinessInsider/status/1158851496953438209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

According to [The Information](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/facebook-to-add-its-name-to-instagram-whatsapp),
this new rebranding is an effort to better credit Facebook for the two apps’ performance
and user gains. Facebook has owned both Instagram and WhatsApp for quite some time,
but until now, each app has mostly been branded and operated independently. It’s
a surprising decision, especially in the wake of Facebook’s privacy scandals and
declining brand trust in the past year. 

This name change feels ill-timed. Instead of addressing users’ concerns over outages
with proactive measures, Facebook is busy sticking its name on everything.  

Whether the name change will affect user trust and app preference remains to be 
seen. In the meantime, let’s hope Twitter remains strong so we have at least _one_
social media platform to complain on. 

> Mark Zuckerberg should please not buy [#Twitter](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Twitter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw).
> We don't need to wake up one day to a social media apocalypse. [#Facebookdown](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Facebookdown?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [#Instagramdown](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Instagramdown?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [#whatsappdown](https://twitter.com/hashtag/whatsappdown?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/vDXIPJf5nu](https://t.co/vDXIPJf5nu)
> — A.N.G.E.L.A (@Ang3llyca) [July 3, 2019](https://twitter.com/Ang3llyca/status/1146499643955658752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)