5 WAYS TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA ON INAUGURATION DAY

If you’re not one of the lucky 240,000 ticket holders, or you’re just not up for the huge crowds on January 20, 2009 for President-elect, Barack Obama’s, inaugural ceremony, fear not! Plenty of people will be blogging, tweeting and uploading pictures live from the event allowing you to be a part of the action. Below are the top ways we found to get minute by minute updates online:

1. Twitter: search #inauguration, #inaug09, or #dctrip09 on search.twitter.com to follow inaugural conversations happening in real time. Additionally, the following people will be tweeting live from the event:

@obamainaugural

@inauguration

@dannythedemon

2. Facebook: CNN has teamed up with Facebook to provide Facebook users with a live stream of the inauguration on the CNN Facebook page. Users will also be able to comment.

3. Twinauguration.com: a site that will capture buzz from various social media sites such as Digg, Flickr, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube etc.

4. Blogs: several bloggers are heading to the capitol to blog live throughout the event. Check out Donald Miller’s blog, Mom 2 Mom- a mom blogger, and various blogs at the Baltimore Sun, for constant inaugural updates.

5. PointAbout: If you have an iPhone and you are headed to D.C. on the 20^th be sure to use PointAbout for directions to the National Mall, restaurant recommendations, Starbucks locations and much more. All of the recommendations are based on your location.

And just remember, there will be a mere 5,000 portable bathrooms on the National Mall the day of the inauguration to “accommodate” the estimated millions that are predicted to attend – you do the math. So, it may not be such a bad idea to take it all in from your computer!

Feel free to add to our list in the comment section below.