Outage highlights how vital Facebook has become worldwide

By MAE ANDERSON
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The six-hour outage of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp on Monday was a headache for many casual users. But the outage was far more serious for many people worldwide who rely on the social media sites to communicate with relatives, friends and neighbors and run their businesses. It’s a stark reminder that many of the most popular ways to communicate are controlled by one company, Facebook. And any lengthy outage can have severe implications.