Wow, this is pretty crazy,
The Guardian points out that
Google,
Flickr and
Last.fm saw significant drops in their traffic during the inauguration speech. As
The Official Google Blog explains, "the overall query volume of Google searches dropped in the U.S. from the time President Obama took the oath of office until the end of his inaugural speech, demonstrating that all eyes were on today's festivities."
Update (1/21/09): Looks like
everyone was just over at CNN.com: "Internet traffic in the United States hit a record peak at the start of President Obama's speech as people watched, read about and commented on the inauguration, according to Bill Woodcock, the research director at the Packet Clearing House, a nonprofit organization that analyzes online traffic. The figures surpassed even the high figures on the day President Obama was elected."