- Some small businesses lost thousands of dollars in revenue as a result of Facebook and Instagram’s outage on Monday
- The incident has prompted some entrepreneurs to revise their digital marketing strategy after realizing they are overly reliant on certain sources
- Companies are committing to diversifying their marketing and developing their own websites
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
The six-hour outage that made Facebook and Instagram unavailable on Monday was an inconvenience for people looking for social updates from friends and family. But for many small business owners, the unavailability of these sites meant they lost a day of business.
Entrepreneurs are reassessing their reliance on social media advertising after the incident. For some, it was a wakeup call about their dependence on one or two sources to promote their business, communicate with customers, and make sales.
- Facebook, the world’s second largest online advertiser, apologized for the incident and said it wouldn’t bill advertisers affected by the outage, resulting in an estimated loss of $100 million
- Some business owners say they lost thousands of dollars in sales during the outage, raising concerns about what might happen if a more prolonged disruption occurs
- Business owners are looking at ways to diversify their marketing, including traditional advertising like flyers and newspapers as well as digital options like apps
- The incident has spurred some businesses to develop their own websites and e-commerce offerings rather than relying on third-party sites
