Twitter’s slowly coming back after a widespread global outage

Many users of Twitter around the world reported yesterday and early today that they were unable to access the microblogging site. The company tweeted from its support account, simply acknowledging the problem and that it was working toward a solution.

Both Twitter Web and mobile services were suffering outages, with smartphone users receiving the warning: “Tweets aren’t loading right now”. As of 8 a.m., some organizations (and Twitter users themselves) said that service was being restored, though some were still reporting technical problems.

And while Facebook has found increasing success with its advertising, analysts remain skeptical that Twitter can match its larger competitor’s track record of attracting millions of dollars in ads from big global companies like Coca-Cola, Ford and General Electric. We reverted the change, which fixed the issue. Based on news reports and comments on sites like the digital service interruption tracker Downdetector, Twitter’s content was unavailable via the Web and mobile devices.

Because Twitter is an important news source, as well as a popular sounding board, the shutdowns disrupted the global conversation. “As some noticed”, Twitter officials reported at that time, “Twitter.com was redirected for a while but API and platform applications were working”.

@Twittersupport reported the service disruptions in three separate Tweets between Tuesday and last Friday.

Tuesday’s latest outage is likely seen as an “unwelcome headache” for Dorsey, say consultants at Frost & Sullivan. This perhaps means dire consequences for some businesses.

The issue was the longest-lasting in the micro-blogging site’s nearly 10-year history.

Don’t worry. Everything is gradually coming back to normal so you won’t have to make physical or verbal contact with another human being.