Facebook
Reuters

Facebook and Instagram have gone down in technical glitch that has caused a meltdown for users around the world jokingly saying that they may actually have to interact with their friends and families in person.

Some trying to use the sites have been met with a blank page and nothing loading, while others can only load parts of the websites which have been linked ever since Facebook bought Instagram for $1bn (£758m) in 2012.

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The issue is a global one with people suffering social media downtime in South America, parts of Asia and Europe. People have been using that other main social media platform, Twitter, to vent their frustration, with the hashtag #FacebookDown trending globally.

Twitter user Ian Prince wrote: "Right now there are millions of people trying to awkwardly avoid looking at other people on their lunch break". Another person wrote: "Both Facebook and Instagram are down... so we all end up on Twitter not knowing what else to do".

Meanwhile BBC 3 tweeted: "FB is down but dw your uncle is still angry about brexit, your school friends are still pregnant and cats are still funny" while London Radcliffe wrote: "But I don't know how actual real human contact works"

The website Down Detector said problems started around 4pm on Wednesday (11 October) with Europe and North America most affected.

A spokesperson for Facebook told Mashable: "We're aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing Facebook and Instagram. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible."