For millenials, connectivity is no less than religion so unsurprising that as the clock struck twelve and we welcomed year 2016, alternatively, madness ensued with Whatsapp servers crashing leaving the world in mad frenzy. Connecting and disconnecting for a whole hour and eighteen minutes (yes, we counted because, obviously…) people turned to twitter per usual to vent their frustration.
Mood:
#Whatsapp is down got me like pic.twitter.com/uTocEvHMtr
— basem (@basemaguilera) December 31, 2015
A dash of suicidal thoughts.
Every Single #Whatsapp user right now ??? pic.twitter.com/OlgANI8a4f
— P R A B H A S (@prasad_darling) December 31, 2015
A tribute to #Whatsapp that was.
Pray for #Whatsapp pic.twitter.com/jQ2kJ52VAi
— Juancho (@tweetdejuancho) December 31, 2015
Human connection versus morse code.
Apparently, #Whatsapp had a major outage, leading to the typical freakout. Maybe it's the Universe's way of saying "talk in person."
— Frenetic Geek (@JaidenEverett) December 31, 2015
Kabootar ja ja ja…
#Whatsapp is down. Desperate times call for desperate measures. #passengerpidgeon pic.twitter.com/DAF9wrTqKP
— tonya perry (@tonyajayne) December 31, 2015
Some felt like Paris Hilton in The Simple Life.
I'm feeling the same Right now, #Whatsapp is down ? pic.twitter.com/1hOEpTwGNd
— M H T (@HanzalaOfficial) December 31, 2015
She wants your mooooooney.
#Whatsapp is down… SMS services be like pic.twitter.com/0TO0oyBV9A
— Kareem Saadeh (@Sa3adeh) December 31, 2015
A moment of silence for this fearless b*stard.
#Whatsapp down, people losing their minds. Meanwhile on the @nokia 3210… Lad ? pic.twitter.com/1pgRSC9bxF
— Peter Cox (@petercox5) December 31, 2015
Despite all the madness, this guy couldn’t help with the #gamez.
If you're having #WhatsApp problems I feel bad for you son, you got 99 contacts and can't message 1. Hit me! ?
— Safwan Ahmedmia (@SuperSaf) December 31, 2015
Fun fact: Whatsapp was founded by Yahoo employees, Brian Acton and Jan Koum and soon became the more engaging app on mobile platform. Interestingly enough, Acton had been turned down for potential jobs by both Twitter and Facebook. He took the rejection in his stride, tweeting:
May 2009
Got denied by Twitter HQ. That's ok. Would have been a long commute.
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) May 23, 2009
August 2009
Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure.
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) August 3, 2009
Feb 2014: Fast forward five years and Facebook acquired Whatsapp in a cash-and-stock deal worth an eye popping $22 billion. Mark Zuckerburg called the mobile-messaging start-up a “great fit” as the app would help Facebook keep people connected. Now there’s a cool example of falling nine times, getting up ten. With the new year upon us, let’s make sure that’s a huge takeaway for us as we strive to be the best versions of ourselves and write ourselves as the heroes of our own story.
Happy new year, folks.