Today Barak Obama will be sworn in as 44th President of the United States, but to say this is just an American event would be silly.  This election has inspired hope in the hearts and minds of people across the world – not just the United States.  As a result, this inauguration watched on television by a global audience of millions, and will also be the first inauguration to be shared over the global social media network of communities (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.)

This morning, CNN is broadcasting President-elect Barack Obama becoming the next President of the United States in a joint effort with Facebook. Clicking on the CNN live application brings the user to a CNN/Facebook hybrid type page that allows you to update your own Facebook status and see status updates from your friends, while simultaneously watching the inauguration. While I could stream the inauguration on another web channel, there’s something great about being able to be watching “with” your friends, even if it’s remotely. If you’re at work today, like I am, you can schedule your lunch for 11:30am – that’s when the swearing-in ceremony takes place, followed immediately by Obama’s inauguration address.

My friend Le refers to Obama’s welcome to DC concert as “The Grammy’s,” and she’s not entirely wrong.  This is being treated like a celebrity event, complete with coverage, hoopla and sharing across media channels. Not unlike Kennedy and his Rat Pack, Obama has a whole crew of celebrity supporters (Anyone remember Brother-in-Lawford?)

I’ll leave you with a fun Obama related slip. Did anyone else see Jill Biden’s “oops” moment on Oprah?  It went something like this: “Well, Joe was given the choice between being Vice President or Secretary of State…” before she saw the looks coming from both her husband, Oprah, and the entire live audience.  It was pretty awesome.
Happy Inauguration Day!

I apologize for being a superbly inconsistent blogger.

I’m going to blame it on the following:

1/3 softball season

1/3 work

1/3 my own laziness

I also can’t help wondering if Twitter has something to do with it. Twittering makes me feel like I’ve contributed something each day, especially since the Tweets show up on the blog. It’s a cheap substitute.

Softball season is over, so I’m going to focus on working out my brain for a while.