How to Make Web History on Inauguration Day

Many thanks to Kaitlin Foley, whosenew blog has a great overview of how to use social media to participate in the inauguration of Barack Obama on Jan. 20, whether you have a ticket or not. I, for one, am using/fllowing the #inaug09 tag on Twitter.

Twitter:

NPR and CBS News are using two major twitter tags to follow listeners for the Inauguration Report. The first #inaug09 is for updates about Inauguration Day itself. I’ve been using it to follow people are also just posting information before the event itself using the tag, and using it myself to update as well. The second #dctrip is for road-trippers traveling to DC. Click on the linked tags or view a widget with the ongoing feed on NPR.

Are you using twitter when you go to DC for the Inauguration? Follow me @blogislam if you wish and I’ll follow back.

SMS text:

Text 56333 with the category code for the type of updates you want to receive from the Presidential Inauguration Committee. If you’d like to send updates to NPR and CBS news, text 66937 beginning with one of the tags above and include your message afterward.

Flickr, YouTube, Blogs:

The tags for these sites are the same as the twitter tags (inaug or dctrip) although there is no hashtag. Example? The photo to the left is tagged inaug if you follow the link.

iPhone:

There are also a couple iPhone apps to point out. First, there’s the Inauguration Report that allows you to submit audio, photo, and text reports to the NPR master feed for all of the incoming tags, without any of the work. There’s a registration, but once completed, is stored in your phone. I’ll be writing more about this as soon I get a better feel it, or have a chance to use it in DC. The other app worthwhile to point out for people going DC is Navigating Washington. It has alerts, polls, a metro station finder, an events function, and finally, a Zagat food guide. Best of all, it’s free to install until Inauguration Day.

Also, if you’re into twitter, don’t forget twitterfon. It’s vastly improved with the new updates and I think is the best twitter app available.

Facebook:

CNN and Facebook will be live streaming the ceremony for users who RSVP to the event on their site. Apparently, you’ll be able to watch live video on one side of the screen and status updates from your friends on the other.