We've all been there: You wake up in the morning, roll out of bed, grab your phone and, after limbering up your fingers for a no doubt stellar status update, you learn the horrible truth — your Facebook isn't working. But, wait. Why isn't Facebook working? What the heck could be happening to keep you from your feed? Well, as you may have guessed, there are myriad reasons Facebook might experience issues every now and again — just as the same is true for Snapchat, Twitter, and every other online service you rely on in your day to day life. The silver lining is that I've also got some intel about what to do in the unfortunate event you can't seem to get this popular social media platform to play ball.
I like to think of Facebook as the OG social media app. Sure, Friendster and MySpace launched prior to Facebook. But, let's be real, Facebook's perennial appeal has endured, whereas Friendster is "taking a break" and most people wonder if MySpace is even still a thing. Introduced in 2004, Facebook has seen its ebbs and flows and its primary demographic has arguably shifted over time to a more mature age group (Older Millennials, represent!). Do we need it to survive? No. But does that make the moment we discover Facebook is down any easier to bear? Obviously not. Thankfully the Facebook gods continue to smile on us all, and most of the reasons the app might not be working are easy to fix.
So if you find yourself in an undesirable crisis of Facebook-less proportions, refer to the following possible culprits-slash-solutions. We've also reached out to Facebook for more information and will update this post if or when we hear back.
1. Your Account Is Suspended
Have you been a little naughty lately? Well, have you? Here's the 4-1-1. If you log into your account and it says it has been suspended, it probably means you did something that clashed with the Facebook Community Standards. Someone may have reported you for disrespectful behavior or inappropriate content, in which case Facebook suspended your account in order to investigate. If your behavior has been on the up-and-up, though, it's possible you were reported mistakenly and your account will soon be restored.
2. Your Account Is Disabled
Ruh roh, Shaggy — if you see a disabled message when you try to log in, chances are good you've been bucking the Facebook authorities big time. According to Facebook's Help Center, the company disables accounts that don't follow the Facebook Terms. Disable-worthy violations apparently include unsolicited contact or inappropriate conduct, repeating reported behavior, using a fake name, impersonating someone else, or posting content that doesn't follow Facebook terms. If you think you've been wrongly accused, you can submit an appeal.
3. Your Account Has Been Hacked
Let's say your account still appears to be active, but you cannot personally access it. At this point, you have to consider your account has been hacked. Surefire signs include a change to your account's email address, password, name, birthday, or public posts. In this case, Facebook can help you re-secure your account.
4. You Need An Update
As glitches go, this one isn't too bad — from time to time, Facebook makes considerable changes to their coding and, as such, the app needs to be updated. (This mainly pertains to mobile users, obviously.) Fortunately, the fix is quick: Just head to your mobile device's app store and download the update.
5. You Need To Breathe and Reboot
In perusing various problems reported on the Facebook Community forum and addressed in the Help Center, I noticed the company frequently suggests, "if you're using the Facebook mobile app, close out of the app and reopen." We all used to play this game growing up, right? Anytime that ol' dinosaur of a desktop PC stopped working, we'd just breathe and reboot. The same principle applies here.
6. Facebook Is Blocked
Are you at work? Or school, perhaps? Not everyone in the world shares your enthusiasm for social media. If you are on a desktop computer at one of the aforementioned institutions, it's entirely possible that you can't pull up Facebook because it has landed on a list of blocked sites. (Boooooooo, I know.) The only solution for this problem is to wrap up what you're doing and head to the safety of home, where free range web browsing is socially accepted — nay, embraced.
7. Your Internet Browser Is Outdated
In response to one user who could not get their Facebook to load properly, the Facebook Help Team responded, "Your problem is most likely related to your internet browser." They then gave instructions for upgrading said browser. So if it's been a hot minute since you upgraded your Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or what-have-you, it's high time to hop on that if you want Facebook to function again.
8. The Facebook Server Is Down
In rare instances, Facebook does experience a global service outage. The horror! When this happens, users have trouble with everything from maintaining a connection to even just accessing the app. And, because life isn't fair, there's not a gosh darn thing you can do about it but sit tight until Facebook fixes the ish.
Images: Giphy (8)
