The Web Braces For Inauguration Traffic

1sockchuck writes "Web sites and social networks are scaling up for huge traffic during today's Inauguration. Photo sharing sites are expecting a surge in volume around the noontime swearing-in, while Twitter has doubled its capacity. Some net watchers say peak volume may not match the record levels seen on Election Night 2008 (as reported by Akamai's Net Usage Index). As noted yesterday, DC-area wireless networks are the most likely bottleneck for messaging and photo sharing. "

Comments

I'm on the Mall right now

[BadAnalogyGuy]

It's pretty freaking cold! Lots of energy and excitement here in the crowd.

There are so many people here, it's hard to believe that this crowd is overshadowing the Million Man March as far as numbers of people goes.

I took a leak earlier. It was so cold, the urine stream was sublimating to steam before it hit the bottom.

I can't wait to see Obama on the dais!

Historical Moment

[Chabil Ha']

Whether you voted for the guy or not, one cannot deny the magnitude of Barack Obama's clinching of the U.S. Presidency. This past election has seen a level of participation from a large cross-section of our nation, showing America's concern for it's future, both home and abroad. While the tea leaves aren't revealing much about what the future holds, one can see that we have chosen to go down a different path than we have been going for the past eight years.

It will be interesting in Obama's freshman year to see the challenges that confront him, how he'll deal with them, and how the public will react. I think more than anything, Barack will have trouble living up to the image of a 'Cristo Negro de Esquipulas', as many look at him as a messiah of sorts for the nation. That aside, we have a unique moment in history in which we will be asked what it was like when the first African American president was inaugurated, to which we'll reply that it was both exciting and uncertain. Exciting because it seems that we have grown from our bigoted and biased past, but uncertain, not because he's black, but because of the economic and foreign calamities and troubles that have been layed before us.