Social media users reacted to the Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram outage with 'Squid Game' memes on Twitter. Photo: Twitter
Social media users reacted to the Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram outage with 'Squid Game' memes on Twitter. Photo: Twitter
Social media users reacted to the Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram outage with 'Squid Game' memes on Twitter. Photo: Twitter
Social media users reacted to the Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram outage with 'Squid Game' memes on Twitter. Photo: Twitter

The best meme reactions to WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram going down as Twitter steps up


Farah Andrews
  • English
  • Arabic

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down for about six hours yesterday, leaving as many as 2.7 billion global users without their digital versions of fidget spinners.

Naturally, the masses migrated away from any Facebook-operated apps over to Twitter, which seemed ready to welcome the online crowds.

Quick to react to the flood of users, the Twitter account simply tweeted, "hello literally everyone".

The tweet received a lot of attention, with 2.9 million likes, 556,855 retweets and 179,017 quote tweets at the time of writing.

Plenty of brands engaged with the tweet. Instagram's official account replied, "Hi and happy Monday", with a stressed face emoji. The McDonald's account replied: "hi what can i get u", to which Twitter replied, "59.6 million nuggets for my friends".

The official social media accounts for Twitter and McDonalds interact during the Facebook outage. Photo: Twitter
The official social media accounts for Twitter and McDonalds interact during the Facebook outage. Photo: Twitter

Other notable names to respond to Twitter's viral tweet include singer Adele, who added fuel to rumours that new music is coming our way when she responded, "Hiya babes!"

And Microsoft Teams sent a tongue-in-cheek reply to Twitter, writing: "*unmutes mic* Hey everyone."

Teams was the target of one widely shared tweet from Twitter user @p_trickwoodcock, who joked: "Why can it never be Teams" when retweeting a story about WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram going down.

Twitter user @p_trickwoodcock laments that Microsoft Teams has not gone down with the Facebook outage. Photo: Twitter
Twitter user @p_trickwoodcock laments that Microsoft Teams has not gone down with the Facebook outage. Photo: Twitter

Netflix entered the conversation with a very timely Squid Game meme:

Squid Game memes were prevalent during the outage, as comedy site Funny or Die got in on the joke with back-to-back memes from the hit Korean show.

The fact three of the biggest social media apps were owned by one company was highlighted by one Twitter user who used a Squid Game dalgona meme to illustrate his point.

UAE meme account, Dubai Problems, looked into the internet's past for social media comfort, joking that they were "finally getting round to updating my MySpace Bio".

A classic The IT Crowd meme was given a good run:

Mr Bean as Twitter, showing off his ability to stretch his legs next to a bandaged up hospital patient – meant to denote Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – was another widely shared video:

And finally, some simple word play made a lot of people laugh, with one Twitter user renaming The Social Network, the 2010 film about Mark Zuckerberg, the "The Social Notwork".

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.0-litre%20twin-turbo%20V8%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E680hp%20at%206%2C000rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E800Nm%20at%202%2C750-6%2C000rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERear-mounted%20eight-speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E13.6L%2F100km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Orderbook%20open%3B%20deliveries%20start%20end%20of%20year%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh970%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What drives subscription retailing?

Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.

The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.

The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.

The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.

UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.

That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.

Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.

Buy farm-fresh food

The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.

In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others. 

In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food. 

In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra. 

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Skoda Superb Specs

Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol

Power: 190hp

Torque: 320Nm

Price: From Dh147,000

Available: Now

Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

Total received: €4,670.30 

Route 2: online platform

The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.

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Updated: October 05, 2021, 5:59 AM