News Peport #1

"Obama Inauguration May Strain Internet"
Geoff Duncan, Digital Trends.com
1/20/2009
http://news.digitaltrends.com/news-article/19006/obama-inauguration-may-strain-internet

With President Barack Obama being elected into office today, some people in the Internet business wonder if the Internet will be able to keep up with all the nationwide and worldwide interest. It is predicted that there will be double or even triple the amount of online traffic during the inauguration of Obama. The heaviest will of course be news websites such as Fox News, CNN, and NBC along with others. These sites will not only be slowed by the mass of people trying to watch and remain informed on this historical day, but they will also be slowed by the large amount of streaming video expect to be put up on these large news sties so people will be able to see anything missed on TV. Websites such as YouTube, and Twitter are also expected to see a spike in online traffic with all the videos being uploaded and watched on the inauguration. The inauguration of President Obama is expected to be the most widely watched live online event of all time. This is due to both the historical aspect of the event as well as the fact that Obama did a large amount of his campaigning online and many of his followers are Internet ready and savvy. There is some downside according to some to the inaugurations effect on the Internet. Some companies that are largely web based fear that productivity will be greatly effected due to the slowed Internet from the increased traffic. Experts also warn people to be wary of phishing scams and frauds that claim to be about the inauguration and that people should only go to sites they know and trust. The Internet will not be the only source of communication to suffer from increased workload, cellphones are also supposed to be backed up due to the mass amount of communication from calls and emails around the Washington DC area due to the inauguration.

I am very excited along with many others in this country with President Barack Obama being elected into office and must admit that I am currently part of the traffic online. Much of President Obama's campaigning was done online thanks to YouTube and other sources. I'm sure that once the inauguration is over that the Internet traffic will still be above average due to people who missed the inauguration and with people continuing to post their own videos to the web. It is also good to know that people are so interested in what is going on in our country and are using the Internet as their source of information. With the way Internet is now and most people having wireless Internet, most of those watching it on TV will be able to use the Internet at the same time. You must also remember that the Internet is no longer for just those at their computer but people who went to see the inauguration live can still be online thanks to new cell phone technology. I don't think that online companies will be taking that large of a hit from the slowed Internet since people probably aren't purchasing anything during the inauguration since they are probably watching it.