Most popular Inauguration- Barack
Obama inauguration sets world records
WASHINGTON, USA -- A record number* of people
have watched the inauguration ceremony of U.S. President
Barack Obama, both live (over 2 million people) and online
(45.5 million video streams**)-setting
the world record for the Most
popular inauguration. Barack
Hussein Obama was sworn in Tuesday as the 44th president
of the United States, writing a new chapter in American history
as the first African-American to hold the nation's highest
office. (enlarge
photo)
From the National Mall to restaurants, school
halls and homes across the United States, Americans cheered
Obama not only for the significance he represents as the 44th
president and the first African American to ascend to the
office, but for the hope that he can revive a sick economy
and stem increasing joblessness.
Nearer the Capitol, inauguration-goers stood shoulder
to shoulder, at one point packed so tightly that reaching
into a pocket became nearly impossible.
The crush in the morning was so large that,
for a while, authorities shut off access to the eastern section
of the mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument,
an area that when tightly packed can accommodate about 1 million
people.
Elsewhere, long lines of people waited for
hours to get through security checkpoints to watch the inaugural
parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. And Washington's subway system
was jammed starting before dawn as more than 545,000 people
boarded trains before noon, when Obama was sworn in.
The previous world record for attendance
of the presidential inauguration is held by Lyndon B. Johnson,
who drew 1.2 million in 1965.
Online "In
addition to the historic nature of the Inauguration, it is
now clear that this event has driven unprecedented demand
from a global online audience," says Robert Hughes, Akamai's
executive vice president of global sales, services and marketing.
"With the inauguration occurring during
work-day hours in the U.S., we witnessed record numbers of
live streams served in support of many leading news businesses."
Fastest website change
In the end, change happened in seconds.
President Barack Obama had barely let go of the Bible on which
he had sworn the oath of office before the front page of the
White
House website had been radically altered.
Photo: Composite of White House website before
and after Barack Obama's inauguration (enlarge
photo)
At 12.01pm eastern standard time, out went the
rather text-heavy Bush administration front page on
whitehouse.gov, with its sections on: Global War on
Terror; the Freedom Agenda; the Bush Record and Mrs Bush's
Leadership.
Instead those clicking on it were welcomed
by a smiling photograph of President Obama under the headline
: "Change has come to America", along with a gallery of images
that included the whole Obama family getting out and interacting
with the community and text sections on subjects such as Honouring
Dr King's Legacy and Serving America.
Before midday, the website had a
picture of George Bush, holding hands with Laura Bush making
their way along a
red carpet laid outside the north portico of the White House.
It now says: "WhiteHouse.gov
will be a central part of President Obama's pledge to make
his the most transparent and accountable administration in
American history."
Obama's inauguration by the numbers: * 5,000: The number of portable toilets
to be distributed on the National Mall
* 240,000: That is how many tickets
were distributed, free of charge, for the swearing-in ceremony
on Capitol Hill.
* 55: The number of previous presidential
inaugurations.
* 1 million: The number of people
expected to view the inauguration from the National Mall (only).
Hundreds of thousands more will pack Pennsylvania Avenue
to watch the inaugural parade. (enlarge
photo)
The record was set during the 1965 inauguration of Lyndon
B. Johnson, when 1.2 million people attended.
* $8,249 (5,995 pounds): The price
of a seat at the swearing-in ceremony being advertised by
one online ticket broker.
* 850: Washington's Metro rail
service had that many rail cars, capable of carrying 120,000
people every hour, operating between 4 a.m. and 9 p.m. on
the day.
* 8,000: Some 4,000 city police
officers were deployed along with 4,000 from 96 other law
enforcement agencies across the country. * 32,000: The total number
of military personnel who were on duty or on standby for the
inauguration.
(**) The
online audience:
-Akamai Technologies: 7.7 million people watching video
streams
-Limelight said 2.5 million people watched the inauguration
on sites that use Limelight for delivery, with most of the
viewers staying for Obama's entire speech.
- CNN.com had served more than 21.3 million live video
streams, smashing its Election Day record of 5.3 million streams
(By 3:30 EST on Tuesday)
- MSNBC delivered more than 14 million video streams
by 1 p.m. EST.
