The Inauguration: Your Facebook Friend
by Claudine ZapJan 8, 2009
With apologies to Margaret Mead: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed school kids can do when they use Facebook to change the world. And by change the world, we mean not go to school.
A student group from Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, turned to Facebook to gather support for a petition to declare Inauguration Day a school holiday. The group grew to over 5,000 members and the students got what they asked for: the day off. As the student group explains: "We live so close to Washington, so it would be unfortunate to miss such an important moment in our nation's history because of an exam." Especially a history exam.
The PTA announced the vote and encouraged parents to take their children to the event regardless of their political views.
Besides the student group, there are lots of other online groups that have popped up in anticipation of the on-the-ground mega-event. There's "No Rick Warren at Obama Inauguration" with over 13,000 Facebook members. There's the "We Want Parliament/Funkadelic To Play At The Obama Inauguration" with a respectable 170-plus members.
There's also a popular guide to the weekend: Inauguration 2009 in DC -- Where to Go, What to Do!! (Exclamation points theirs.) The fast-moving membership is at 22,000 friends and counting. According to the Washington Post, the group was started by three professional marketers to get the word out on how the inauguration works. Said one organizer, "People are freaking out, thinking they have to go to inauguraltickets.com and pay $2,000 for a ticket, even though tickets are free and you don't even need a ticket to come down and still experience the inauguration."
Given that some are expecting crowds of nearly 2 million, it's no surprise that attendees who will descend on D.C. are looking for all the help they can get. Searches on "inauguration" have soared over 600% in one day, along with "inauguration schedule," "inauguration tickets," and "date of presidential inauguration 2009." On second thought, maybe we should all get a holiday.
