21 January 2009 | Author: Yasmin Sulaiman

Inauguration terms dominate search on Tuesday

It's unlikely to come as a shock to many that inauguration terms dominated the search waves on Tuesday January 20, the historic date that Barack Obama began his Presidential career, but the extent to which the occasion seems to have proliferated the consciousness of online users is significant.

In a blog post from Google, the search leader highlights the top queries yesterday included terms like "live inauguration coverage", "inauguration day 2009 streaming" and "listen to inauguration live", highlighting the growing number of people who now rely on the web for their daily fix of news. A quick look at Google Trends' hot 100 searches for the USA throw up few non-inauguration related searches for January 20, with the official top ten looking like this:

• 1. Inaugural website
• 2. Inaugural luncheon menu
• 3. Inauguration day 2009 streaming
• 4. Left handed presidents
• 5. Senator Kennedy (who collapsed at the inauguration lunch)

However, according to Google, Americans weren't the only ones keen to witness Obama's historic moment. Search queries from Latin America included "toma de posesion de Barack Obama en vivo" - translated as "inauguration of Barack Obama live" from Spanish. Other inauguration searches arrived in several European, Asian and Middle Eastern languages, including French, German, Dutch, Hebrew, Arabic and Chinese (interestingly, reports indicate that parts of the inauguration speech transcript have since been censored by the Chinese authorities).

Searchers also showed interest in figures surrounding the inauguration, such as musical performers Aretha Franklin and Yo-Yo Ma, Revered Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, who gave the benediction, and Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, who swore in President Obama.

Queries on "Michelle Obama's ball gown" were accompanied by a range of searches for former First Ladies, including Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush, though Hillary Clinton does not appear in Google's Top 100.

It's also interesting, though not surprising, to note that searches for "inauguration" were dramatically higher at yesterday's event that during the last inauguration of George W. Bush in January 2005. A quick search on Google Trends displays the disparity.
















This dramatic increase once again gives credence to the hypotheses of analysts who claim that Obama is truly the first president of the online age. During the presidential elections last year, online industry players were quick to dub the event the first election in which the internet was truly a force to be reckoned with. Indeed, many ascribed Obama's popularity with younger voters to his comprehensive online policy and obvious love of modern gadgets.

It looks as though the reach of the online era has plunged itself into the political arena, indicating once again the prevalence of the internet in the day to day lives of millions of people across the globe. However, it's also clear that people are still happy to give up their online habits temporarily in order to witness a moment of history: Google revealed that its overall search volume dropped significantly when the President's oath began, only to pick up again at the end of his inauguration speech.

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