Facebook Down: Some Affected, Some Say It's Okay

On the evening of March 5, a series of Meta's Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads platform applications crashed widely and were fixed shortly after. However, the question that comes with it is: Are users heavily dependent on this platform?

Facebook crashed on the evening of March 5, causing serious damage to some businesses.

Talking to VietNamNet , many companies providing Digital Marketing services said they were heavily affected, because when Facebook went down, they would lose their advertising channels and fanpage systems with tens of millions of users. Not to mention, Facebook accounts used to link to TikTok or platforms that allow logging in with this social network account would also be affected. In addition, Facebook's error caused Instagram to crash, causing these companies to lose 50% of their traffic from social networks.

Mr. Nguyen Duy Vi, founder of Buzi company, currently working in the field of Digital Marketing, shared that the phenomenon of Facebook errors has affected the company quite a lot. Services signed with customers have to be temporarily suspended. The company has to send information to customers who are running at that time to explain because it affects the overall KPI of the project. Communication with members of the company is also affected because of the habit of using Facebook for quick communication, forcing them to switch to other platforms such as Zalo, Viber, etc.

Another area that was severely affected when Facebook had an incident was tourism, especially eco-tourism such as camping services.

Mr. Thuy Do, owner of La Ngau Camping, shared: In this type of tourism, 99% of customers come from Facebook. After returning from the tour, they share their experiences through groups, spread (viral) through word of mouth and especially "check in", so when social networks have problems, the company will be greatly affected.

Mr. Le Vuong Thinh, CEO of Vietnam Formula Racing Joint Stock Company - a unit providing entertainment racing services for international and domestic customers - also said: Although using many platforms at the same time such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, website and Zalo, the company still depends heavily on Facebook because the revenue from advertising on this platform still accounts for a high proportion, up to 40-50%. This social network going down will have a serious impact. However, in the long run, businesses need to have a backup plan to reduce the damage.

While businesses in the media, tourism and service sectors are heavily affected, technology and retail businesses are not.

Mr. Nguyen The Kha, Commercial Director of FPT Shop System, said: Like many other companies, FPT Shop also uses Meta's services for work or sales. However, the interruption of this social network on March 5 did not affect the system's business operations. The retail chain always has backup channels for arising situations, and does not depend entirely on any information channel, from internal information exchange or social networking platforms for advertising.

Representatives of many companies operating in the technology sector also informed that they were not much affected when Facebook crashed. Technology businesses all have their own channels of communication or promotion with customers.

Many people think that Facebook errors will also affect KOLs, but this is completely incorrect.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Duy Luan, a famous KOL in the technology industry, said that promoting new content to users on this social network may fluctuate somewhat, but revenue is not affected.

Mr. Tran Hiep, administrator of Tinh Te forum, also said that Facebook's downfall mainly means losing a place to have fun and interact with friends.

Some singers and rappers also shared that Facebook's error did not significantly affect them, and they were willing to switch to another platform instead.

Mr. Bui An, administrator of HDVietnam forum, analyzed that for KOLs, if there is no Facebook, they will switch to other channels such as YouTube, TikTok, Telegram or X(Twitter). The problem is just the effort and money spent to rebuild the channel. KOLs always know how to create attraction with articles, videos, comments, reviews, streaming... and those who belong to their favorite customer base will still follow them on the new platform.

According to a report at the recent launch of social media listening software by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications, in Vietnam there are currently about 72.70 million Facebook users, 67.72 million TikTok users, 63 million YouTube users and about 10.9 million Instagram users.