/ 20 January 2009

Web alive with all things Obama

The web was alive with all things Obama ahead of his inauguration in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

As the day dawned in the freezing capital, thousands threaded their way to the national Mall to witness Obama take the oath of office on the steps of the US Capitol at 5pm GMT.

Websites and technology company’s also joined the festivities, with many providing day-long coverage with webcasts and live feeds.

Twitter set up a ”tweet the inauguration” page, and comments were streaming in on Tuesday afternoon at the rate of about one a second.

”This has got to be the most extensive stalking ever,” said aldy, while the gathering reminded SB_Ed_Fletcher of the Million Man March, ”minus the anger”.

”Everyone’s smiling. There’s a palpable feeling that we’re getting out country back,” wrote Jonathanpberger as he walked up Constitution Avenue, while erob1 couldn’t believe it was finally the end of the Bush years, saying ”On this day the sky is blue, the birds sing, and joy is unconfined. It is the last day of the Bush Adm.”

Obama will be the first United States president to have a Facebook page and a YouTube channel. He has an estimated 3,7-million supporters on Facebook and more than a million ”friends” on his MySpace page.

Over at the Twitter-based Twistori site, comments were rolling in.

”Twitter really dragging today. Must be all the inauguration chatter,” said a user, while another poked fun at Bush, syaing: ”I misunderestimated just how exciting today’s inauguration was going to be.”