Twitter was completely unavailable this morning for approximately 2 hours. The microblogging platform that allows its users to post status and news updates in 140 characters or less was the victim of a DDoS attack.
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is an instance in which the perpetrator consistently floods the victim with multiple, bogus requests and, in turn, overloads the server preventing it from answering good requests. Apparently the load balancing system also failed.
In turn, many of Twitter's users turned to Facebook for distribution and sharing information. Facebook, as a result, became sluggish this morning, as well.
There are two lessons we can learn from this morning's events:
- While we are quickly approaching, social media is not fully ready to be the primary news source. While it can assist in sharing information quickly across a broad audience, there are a few "kinks" that still need to resolved.
- Have a backup. Many of these social media platforms are developed and operated by individuals and small startups that simply do not have the capital to prevent downtime. Instead of relying on one social media channel, incorporate multiple networks as you develop your marketing strategy.
As of the writing of this post, Twitter's "Replies" and "Direct Messages" feeds are still down.
