There is always lots of talk about how powerful Facebook is. Well, after this week, we really know just how powerful the social media monster is. This week, many top websites crashed due to an error that occurred on Facebook. Some of those affected included MSNBC.com, CNN, Yelp and New York Magazine. All of these big sites sent users to redirect pages for several hours after landing.
When users went to these sites, the redirect page sent them to an error page in Facebook. The error seemed to have something to do with Facebook Connect. This is the software platform that increases the reach of Facebook all through the Internet. Connect is on many third party publisher sites in the form of the ubiquitous ‘like’ button. It is especially prevalent on BuzzFeed, the viral news website that relies on social media to spread news throughout the Internet.
According to Facebook, there was indeed a bug that redirected users who were logging into sites with Facebook from 3rd party sites to Facebook.com. According to them, the issue was resolved quickly and all is well with Facebook log in again.
While the damage was limited, this did show just how easily many of the big sites on the Internet can be brought down by a little Facebook bug.
Which reminds us, Facebook’s new Graph Search could promise to bring down some major websites – permanently, if things go as some experts think. Some people think that Graph Search could torpedo Google eventually. And, others think that Search could take out job recruiters, dating sites and recommendation sites. We’ll see how big the impact will be, when Graph Search rolls out to the world in the next year.