What if all of a sudden Facebook and Instagram went down? What would you be doing then? That was the case a couple of days ago when the major social media platforms went dead. According to a Facebook spokesperson, it was caused by a maintenance operation, which triggered a bug that hindered users from uploading, sending, and viewing media files.

Everything’s okay now anyway. But the bigger picture being painted here is how helpless some of us tend to feel when these social media websites go down, like there’s nothing else to do. Is there?

These platforms basically run our every day lives now. Facebook is making sure it’s doing its best to keep you in their system, and probably do everything to the point where you know nothing more out of it. You just friended people on it when it started. Now, you’re more than capable to follow your favorite brands, buy and sell, send money, and possibly, soon enough, purchase everything directly in it. Their cryptocurrency Libra is on the verge of making a difference soon enough.

The fact still remains that however big Facebook might be, Facebook isn’t the internet. It’s a website which made everything within grasp. When it, and its partner websites go down, it doesn’t mean you have to go down with it, does it?

I’m not talking about ditching or boycotting the way Facebook runs a big part of our lives now, despite all the privacy scandals it has managed to face. I can’t ignore its capability of making things easier and more plausible. I’m just saying you need a solid presence online apart from it. Not a social media profile or page in another platform, rather, a website people can find you in.

Make your own established root in the internet. Get your domain name, get a reliable host, and make your own content there. What for? Just so you have something yours. You’re not only making yourself more searchable, but also making yourself more reliable-looking. Besides, what’s your professional email right now? Is it still yourname@gmail.com, when it can be hi@yourname.com?

A simple move like having your own domain email can actually increase your presence and branding image. It’s a step apart from people who can easily make a page and spam with that.

If you think about it, sure you’ve established a page with 10k likes, an Instagram profile with 100k followers. Good for you. But in an instant that can be taken away from you. You are, after all, on Facebook terms by keeping those there. And if they somehow decide to make Facebook Pages to pay up a certain fee to continually be used, then you’re on your knees now, aren’t you? That scenario’s unlikely, but it’s basically how it is the way you need to use Facebook Ads to reach your audience nowadays anyway.

It’s definitely a hard route to take and consider. But it’s one that’ll do you good in the long run. Google still lives. Facebook might be killing it in other departments, but Search isn’t one of them. With or without SEO and social media platforms, your market should be aware of where to find you.