Re-tweeting Obama: Twitter and the presidential inauguration online

By Rich Trenholm on 21 January 2009, 12:24pm

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Zadi WOW. Remember where you are, what you're doing and thinking. You'll tell this story to your grandkids.

mseasons will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry.

At 12 noon eastern standard time yesterday, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America. The eyes of the world's media were on Washington DC for the 56th presidential inauguration, but what did the people have to say... in 140 characters or less? Anyone who thinks Twitter is banal in the everyday could well be won over by the coverage of events like this...

Marti_L This is the magnificence of Twitter. To be able to share this moment, live, with people from around the globe

We picked some of our highlights from the tweets related to the inauguration, as filtered by the #inaug09 tag. The wealth of support among the Twitterati for Obama and his message of hope was clear from the start...

seanmcdonald That Obama, moments from being president, just looked back and winked at his kids, is what has him connecting with so many people.

kristinebrigola ...Obama is walking in. (he kind of had that "can you smell what the rock is cooking" look to him!)

dcwilson303 Very happy for the president and glad to see so many people watching it online.

Indeed. The inauguration of the man dubbed 'the first digital president' could be followed in a staggering number of ways...

jkimlosangeles Technology has completely changed media experience. Watching twitter feed, online webcast and updating facebook on inauguration.

Scobleizer Obama is President at Current TV just changed broadcasting forever: http://ff.im/Gn3j

MichaelParsons The TV Web is all growed up: I've got Joost, CNN Live and Sky HD all streaming in the same tabbed browser without a flicker

or as our own Ian Morris put it...

ian9outof10 I've got monitor to the left of me, and monitor to the right of me. All showing web streams of Obama :)

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Rich Trenholm
[Administrator]
Joined: 2 Oct 2007
Posts: 669

21 January 2009, 12:54 pm

Did you watch/follow the 56th presidential inauguration yesterday? Here at CNET Towers, Nate and Ian had online feeds all over the show, while I followed what the world had to say on Twitter. Apparently you could even watch it on the telly, like an old person.

Did you watch live or wait for the edited highlights to hit YouTube? Did your viewing method of choice hold up? Has the Internet come of age? And what does this kind of event mean for old and new media?

Edited by Rich Trenholm (Administrator) on 21 January 2009 at 12:56 pm