How Apps Like Google, Facebook, and YouTube Rely on Data Centers

We’ve all heard the phrase “on the cloud,” but what does that really mean?

Many of the apps we use every day, like Google, Facebook, YouTube, and even popular online games, depend on powerful computers that store and send the photos, videos, and messages we see on screen.

Those computers are housed in large buildings called data centers.

And when we use Google to search for something, upload a video to Facebook, or even store photos from our phones “on the cloud,” those computers get to work in the background, making sure everything loads quickly and stays right at our fingertips, even if our own device is turned off or lost.

Data centers might sound weird and complicated, but these days, they’re a part of almost everything we do online.

Here are some common questions and clear answers about how our everyday apps rely on data centers. 

What exactly is a data center? 

Whenever we use Facebook, Instagram, or other, similar apps, our photos and videos are copied from our phones and sent over the internet to the company’s computers. These computers live in large, secure buildings called data centers.

Inside a data center, there are rows of machines that work like super‑powerful hard drives. They store our pictures and videos so we can see them anytime we log in, even if we get a new phone or our device breaks. The apps also usually keep backup copies in more than one data center, so our stuff is safer if one place has a problem.

So, even though we hear things like, “Your photos and videos are stored on the cloud,” that “cloud” is really just a data center filled with computers that never turn off.

Here’s an article from Meta that talks about their data centers, and how they are used to store photos from Facebook and Instagram. 

When I back up my photos to iCloud or Google Photos, does that mean they’re stored in a data center?

Yes. When we back up our photos to iCloud or Google Photos, we are using data centers.

Our pictures are copied from our phones and stored on large, always‑on computers inside secure buildings run by Apple, Google, or other providers. 

These data centers keep our photos safe, let us see them from different devices, and help restore them if we lose or replace our phones.

In this article from Apple, the company explains the connection between the iCloud and data center usage. 

And while this Google article is from 2016, it offers a behind-the-scenes tour of one of its data centers. 

When I type a search into Google, are data centers involved in finding and showing the results?

Yes. Every time we type a search into Google, we are using data centers to get our results.

Our search travels over the internet to Google’s computers inside the data center. Those computers look through Google’s stored index of web pages, pick the best matches, and then send the results back to our devices really fast… in just a fraction of a second! 

Here’s an article from Google that talks about why they build data centers. 

When I watch videos on YouTube and Facebook, am I using a data center?

Yes. Data centers store videos by saving them on powerful computers that act like huge hard drives. The video files are kept in organized systems so that when you press play, the apps can find those videos really fast.

When you tap a video on YouTube or Facebook, your device sends a request over the internet to the computers in a data center. The data center then sends the video back to you in small pieces, very quickly, so it looks like smooth, continuous playback on your screen.

If I play online games with friends, are we using data centers to stay connected?

Yes. Whenever we play online games with friends, we are using data centers to keep everyone connected.
It works like this: Our game sends tiny bits of information, like where your character moves and what you say in chat, over the internet to the large computers inside data centers. 
Those computers collect and share that information back out to us and our friends, so we all see the same game action almost at the same time.

We hope this information was useful

We know that data centers are a hot button issue right now for many communities across the country, including ours.  

And our goal isn’t to make anyone fall in love with the idea of a data center being built in Emporia. Like you, we just want to understand more about what they are and how they are used, especially when it comes to our everyday internet usage. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 620-343-8860.