Texting and tweeting through Obama's swearing in

Crowd control at President-elect Barack Obama's January 20 inauguration ceremony will present quite a challenge: On top of the 240,000 ticketed guests who will descend upon the National Mall that day, millions more are expected to join. Ten thousand charter buses will converge on the Washington area. Metro riders have been warned to be prepared "to stand in close proximity to several thousand people."

To manage all of those people, inauguration organizers are turning to text messaging and Twitter.

In an advisory released Monday, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies warned that making calls from cell phones that day may be difficult and that critical messages should be sent via text message.

The organization is also urging inauguration-goers to check out the District of Columbia's inaugural Web site. There visitors can sign up for Alert DC, through which DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management sends text notifications and updates during a major crisis or emergency.

For help navigating the crowded streets of Washington that day--emergency or otherwise--the Presidential Inauguration Committee has set up a Twitter account. It is currently updated with official logistical and scheduling information, and on the day of the ceremony it will be regularly updated with transportation, weather, and event information.

Apple's App Store also boasts at least one iPhone application to help spectators survive the hectic day.

[ggordonliddy]

Obviously any ****** that uses the term "tweet" without sarcasm should be shot in the stomach and then put through a plastic shredder.

[k4zn41]

Hahaha... You took the words out of my mouth.

[1truBob]

Here's a more important question for those of us looking to keep office and business networks running during the inauguration, when everybody stuck in the office is trying to stream video of the inauguration. Who's gonna carry it -- C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC...? And what preparations are they making to serve the video?

[angrykeyboarder]

Frankly I think that in light of the historic nature of this inauguration, business would be wise to treat the day as a holiday and close (just like they *should* be doing the day before).

I'm not working at the present time, but you can bet that I'd either take the day off or call in sick (if need be).

[JasonGooljar]

My guess is C-Span will carry it. Any media outlet using Akami or Internap or any CDN worth it's salt should be fine for streaming the inaugural.

[Wookiee-1138]

CNN's live feed usually works well, in my experience.

[angrykeyboarder]

Just like for his Election day speech (or acceptance speech last summer) everyone will carry it. All the major news sites will be streaming video (in addition to C-SPAN).

My personal preference for such things is MSNBC. I prefer CNN on the Tube but I find MSNBC's streams much more reliable.