Workplace instant messaging service Slack is up and working after a brief outage Friday afternoon plunged offices across the US into chaos.

“We’re in a spot of trouble right now,” the company said in a Twitter response to one user, after thousands of customers used the social network to confirm that the service was temporarily broken.

Slack – which is an acronym for Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge – boasts around 8 million daily active users, with 3 million of them paying for the service.

The cause of the outage, which was reported by numerous people on Twitter, is not currently clear, however, the company kept users up-to-date via social media.

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As people regained use of the messaging service, Slack HQ said on Twitter: "We had some connection issues earlier, but they should be all fixed up now. Sorry for the trouble!"

The US was hit worst by the connectivity issues given the time of day, as the workday has already ended in the UK and Australia.

The reactions to the outage ranged from aggravated to amused as people realised they could not rely on their go-to form of in-office communication.

"Slack is down. Maybe the weekend has come early," one person wrote.