The first true Internet inauguration
Social networks are deluged as millions around the world take in the ceremony online
by MATT HARTLEY
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
January 21, 2009 at 4:27 AM EST
Just as Mr. Obama's campaign used the Internet in new ways to organize supporters and raise funds, millions of onlookers turned to social networks and other online tools to soak up every last iota of detail of the 44th President's inauguration ceremony yesterday.
When George W. Bush took his second oath of office in 2005, social-networking sites MySpace and Facebook were in their infancy, populated mostly by teenagers and college students. Although some media outlets streamed the proceedings through their websites, the results were unsatisfying and sparse.
The world watched yesterday as the first true Internet inauguration unfolded.
As Mr. Obama began his speech, 12 million people were accessing news content every second, according to Akamai Technologies, a U.S. firm that helps media companies meet visitor demand on their websites.
Akamai noted that worldwide Internet traffic spiked to levels 54 per cent above normal - 60 per cent higher in North America - as the inauguration kicked off.
CNN reported that nearly 14 million people tuned in to the proceedings through its live Web video feed, easily topping its previous record of 5.3 million hits set on election night in November.
Through an integration deal with Facebook, CNN also allowed users to update their status through the news channel's site as they watched events in Washington.
An average of 4,000 users updated their status every minute, with more than 8,500 posting new updates the minute Mr. Obama began his speech. In total, Facebook reported 1.5 million status updates through the CNN portal alone.
Mr. Obama's official Facebook fan page received a deluge of visitors, pushing the number of fans on his profile to more than four million and swelling the comment section to more than half a million posts. His MySpace page now features more than one million "friends."
For more...
Read on...
by MATT HARTLEY
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
January 21, 2009 at 4:27 AM EST
Just as Mr. Obama's campaign used the Internet in new ways to organize supporters and raise funds, millions of onlookers turned to social networks and other online tools to soak up every last iota of detail of the 44th President's inauguration ceremony yesterday.
When George W. Bush took his second oath of office in 2005, social-networking sites MySpace and Facebook were in their infancy, populated mostly by teenagers and college students. Although some media outlets streamed the proceedings through their websites, the results were unsatisfying and sparse.
The world watched yesterday as the first true Internet inauguration unfolded.
As Mr. Obama began his speech, 12 million people were accessing news content every second, according to Akamai Technologies, a U.S. firm that helps media companies meet visitor demand on their websites.
Akamai noted that worldwide Internet traffic spiked to levels 54 per cent above normal - 60 per cent higher in North America - as the inauguration kicked off.
CNN reported that nearly 14 million people tuned in to the proceedings through its live Web video feed, easily topping its previous record of 5.3 million hits set on election night in November.
Through an integration deal with Facebook, CNN also allowed users to update their status through the news channel's site as they watched events in Washington.
An average of 4,000 users updated their status every minute, with more than 8,500 posting new updates the minute Mr. Obama began his speech. In total, Facebook reported 1.5 million status updates through the CNN portal alone.
Mr. Obama's official Facebook fan page received a deluge of visitors, pushing the number of fans on his profile to more than four million and swelling the comment section to more than half a million posts. His MySpace page now features more than one million "friends."
For more...
Read on...
posted by JustbeFRANK at 7:38 AM
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