The hashtag #FacebookDown quickly started trending worldwide, appearing in thousands of tweets.

The Wired's manager of audience development, Alex Whitcomb was less than impressed with the social media site's explanation.

"'Something went wrong' has to be the most understated thing Facebook could say about its newsfeed," Mr Whitcomb wrote on Twitter.

Some locked-out users started preparing for impending doom.

"We're through the looking glass here people!" Sydney's Tim Hatfield tweeted.

"Hold your loved ones close".

Meanwhile, officers from the Richland Country Sherriff's Department in Colorado turned to The Simpsons to convey their point, posting a gif of Homer Simpson walking down the street wearing a placard that reads 'the end is near'.

Other users welcomed a break from the site, with one tweeting that it might be "time to go back outside lol".

Users didn't have to wait long for the site to be up and running again, with news feeds refreshing without fail by late Sunday afternoon.

The cause behind the crash hasn't yet been publicly disclosed. Facebook has been contacted for comment.