Whenever we store any of our data or content in the cloud, we are placing absolute trust in the organisation operating that service to look after our digital belongings and prevent them from harm. Unfortunately for some, accidents can happen and data can either be stolen, become temporarily unavailable, or even deleted altogether.
A couple of weeks ago another story broke that should act as a cautionary tale to anyone who uses cloud storage or social networks as their only source for housing data or information. Literary website 3:AM Magazine may have lost 12 years of archived material – every article they have ever published – after those managing the site’s servers disappeared.
Staff had initially hoped that the site would be up and running again the day it dropped offline, but when it became apparent that the future of 3:AM’s archives was very much uncertain, Andrew Gallix – editor in chief – told The Independent that the events “highlighted the fragility of online content”.
He went on to say: “I never expected those who were meant to host and back up our content to just switch us off without even telling us.”
At present there is still no word on whether or not 3:AM will be able to recover their archive of 12 years or articles. Martin Bryant of TheNextWeb spoke of the risks of storing content on third-party servers without making a backup:
“There are risks with storing everything on outside servers… People rely on the cloud far too much. It’s seen as this mythical space that exists in the ether where everything is safe. This is not the case.”
Gallix went on to lament his decision to only use the cloud: “I should have backed it up somewhere else, but it never occurred to me.”
If the information you store within various social networks means a lot to you or your business, then you’d be strongly advised to create an offline backup of this data. SocialSafe is one such application that you can use, allowing you to simultaneously backup and search Facebook, Facebook Pages, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ & Viadeo. To start your offline social journal today, visit our Facebook page to claim your free version of SocialSafe.