Inauguration 2013 in Social Media: Memes, Photos, Stats

By Joanna Stern January 21, 2013

Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

They say a million people have descended on Washington, D.C. today to watch Barack Obama's second inauguration, but many more are watching and commenting on the Internet via Twitter, Facebook and social media. As of 10:00 a.m. ET, Twitter reported that in the previous 90 minutes there had already been more tweets than during the actual 90-minute inauguration ceremony in 2009. During the ceremony, there were 1.1 Million inauguration-related tweets, with 27,795 tweets per minute at the peak.

Follow along here as we watch for the hottest Inauguration chatter.

Tune in to the ABC News.com Live page now for all-day live streaming video coverage of Inauguration 2013: Barack Obama. Live coverage will also be available on the ABC News iPad App and mobile devices.

Memes and Photos

We told you you Aretha Franklin's famous 2009 inauguration hat was going to make a comeback. We just didn't know how, er, small it would be. Katy Perry tweeted about her little hat this morning.

Image credit: @katyperry/Twitter

And then John Mayer popped up in Washington wearing his own.

But the hottest hair conversation? Michelle Obama's bangs. We assume it is only a matter of time before someone makes a fake Twitter account for them. [Update: And here it is -- @FirstLadyBangs]

Thousands are also tweeting links to the full text of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech." Here's the text of the speech on ABCNews.com.

Paul Ryan has sent his support to Obama via a tweet. No word from Mitt Romney yet.

Photos of a protester who climbed a tree near the Capitol surfaced on Twitter.

Credit: @grahamvyse

Don't forget about the girls! Sasha and Malia's purple coats are getting a lot of attention, but so are Malia's dance moves.

Credit: Digg

There were over 23,000 tweets for Beyonce even before her performance. What if Beyonce had shown up with bangs? You think Twitter would have gone down?

Image credit: Getty

And the masses turned back to hats - Justice Antonin Scalia's hat, to be specific. See more about the hat in our Inauguration 2013: Live Updates blog.

Credit: Anthony Behar/Sipa/AP Photo

At some point #anoguracetion started trending. We knew "inauguration" was hard to spell, but that's a new one! Check out our article about how many people spell inauguration wrong and some tips for remembering how to get it right.

Photobombs! Below is a great one of Sen. Chuck Schumer. Buzzfeed has collected 'em all.

Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sasha got a little tired during the speech, okay?! (via @ditzkoff)

Credit: @ditzkoff

This photo and GIF of Michelle Obama rolling her eyes has been a topic of conversation. Is she annoyed at her husband? Boehner? The food?

This photo of the girls taking a photo of their parents kissing also got a lot of attention. The part you don't see? Malia's photobomb.

The Stats

In just two minutes, @BarackObama's tweet about being sworn in for a second term had over 1,700 retweets.

Unfortunately for Twitter, the service experienced some major issues during the afternoon into the evening. Many were not able to send tweets or get to Twitter.com.

Facebook has posted some of its own stats. It saw major spikes around Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson's performances. At 12:30 p.m. ET posts and chatter about Beyonce were up 42,450 percent.