The online inauguration

I have watched every possible inauguration in my life -- but I am certain today's inauguration of Barack Obama will be different. In the past, most people watched a new president come into office on television. Today there will be many, many different ways to watch the ceremony online.

KOMU.com (my home away from home) is streaming it live. All of the networks and 24-hour cable stations will offer live streams of the ceremony. But there will be many other options. Obama's inaugural committee sent out an email offering a link to watch the ceremony. Hulu.com, Ustream.tv, and Mogulus.com have streams live on the front of their sites. The most interesting option to me is how Ustream now offers live video streams onto your iPhone! I applied for access to the new iTunes application and gave it a try a little while ago. There appears to be streams of the inauguration from the Associated Press and CNN.

I haven't tried the chat function yet but it will be interesting to see what people have to say during the event. I wonder if iPhone users will have more productive conversations than on standard chat rooms. I'd love to hear of any other creative ways you are watching the inauguration.

UPDATE: Many of my Facebook friends say they plan to watch CNN's live stream of the inauguration it is offering on Facebook. I'll have to check that out. (okay -- it was great)

Mashable is asking everyone to vote for the spot with the best way to watch the innauguration online. I ended up enjoying a combination of Twitter, the iPhone stream on Ustream and the CNN/Facebook combo. Check out the amazing numbers the website is posting about that website partnership.

ANOTHER UPDATE: There are a number of wonderful photo collections developing online: Washington Post Flickr Collection NPR's Andy Carvin is collecting listener photos as they email them in.

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