WhatsApp down, panic on social networks

First "crash" of WhatsApp three days after its acquisition by Facebook. The problem has affected three hours users worldwide.

WhatsApp has been a global failure to 12pm New York time on Saturday. "Sorry we currently experiencing server issues. we hope to be back up and recovered shortly. " the group wrote on his Twitter account.

 Users have a bad surprise at launching of the app. It is impossible to connect and access their conversations. They can not send or receive messages.

Panic then blows on the Twitter page of WhatsApp, complaints between users and same accusers. Some speculate on the causes of this failure, with more or less humor.

Everything returns to normal in half past three later: the service works again. The group confirmed the recovery in a succinct message: "Whatsapp service has been restored. We are sorry for downtime. "

At the same time, the CEO of WhatsApp, Jan Kum, reportedly announced by email to the Wall Street Journal: "We have a server problem, it should be OK now" (twitter account Scott Thurm, deputy editor of the Technology section the Wall Street Journal).

 WhatsApp victim of its redemption?

The causes of this failure are still unknown. WhatsApp has not indicated when it began or what caused it. He did not release the number of people affected and affected countries. According to speculation relayed on the Twitter account of the application, the most convincing explanation is the massive influx of new users. the mobile messaging service is a victim of its success since its acquisition by Facebook for $ 19 billion. Servers were not prepared to support a great influx (during the last week WhatsApp did not record a small million new members per day!).

According to speculation relayed its own Twitter account, one of the explanations put forward was that the application was victim of its success since its spectacular redemption. The servers were not prepared for large crowds, according to the specialized. Neither Facebook nor the leaders of the application did not wish to comment on these allegations.

If they prove, the social network will be faced with size problem. Mark Zuckerberg wants to connect the world to the "next billion" to access the Internet. It has popularized Facebook in emerging countries, where smartphones will soon replace many computers per inhabitant. Messaging services are the most used in the world and therefore represent a potential entry point to become the Web.

WhatsApp is the leader of mobile messaging in Europe but also in Latin America, India and some countries in Asia, with 450 million users. Facebook hopes to double the number of users WhatsApp. Which already shows many "server problems".