Like never before, inauguration experienced online

NEW YORK -- In an inauguration defined by a sense of change, the experience of watching Barack Obama take office was fittingly revolutionary.

Like never before, Americans watched the inauguration of an incoming president online through live video streaming across their computers. And wholly wrapped up in following Inauguration Day 2009 on the Web was reacting to them — blogging, vlogging and tweeting.

Essentially every major news outlet offered live feeds on their respective websites in what was potentially the most Web-driven coverage of a significant news event yet. It was partly out of necessity, since many viewers were at work in front of their computers — and away from TV sets — for the midday swearing in.

It was also a notable benchmark in the fast evolution of online video. At the time of the last inauguration, YouTube didn't even exist.

The major news portals — Yahoo.com, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, AOL News, The New York Times, ABC.com, CBS.com, Fox.com, WashingtonPost.com — all streamed the festivities, some with video embedded right on their home page for the first time.

Akamai Technologies Inc., which delivers Internet video for many websites, said the inauguration was a record for them, with 7.7 million people watching video streams at the same time.

So much video meant bandwidth was stretched considerably for many sites and many servers. On the whole, the webcasts appeared to function well, albeit with some lags.

Keynote Systems Inc., which tracks website performance, said the Internet's top 40 sites slowed down by as much as 60% when the ceremony started at 11 a.m., and many news sites saw even sharper declines in performance.

Many sites streaming the festivities gave four different perspectives on the ceremony, giving the viewer the option of watching the primary feed, the crowd amassed along the Mall or other views. The Associated Press' Online Video Network provided a webcast for many news outlets, including AOL News.

Several outlets looked to combine traditional coverage with new media interactivity.