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The first US Internet president is an online sensation, triggering a tidal wave of Web traffic as he officially seized the nation's reins.

Millions around the world commented, Twittered, posted and prayed as they watched Barack Obama's inauguration live on the Internet, pinning their hopes on a new world order and era in American politics.

Akamai Technologies, which specializes in assuring that websites don't crash under the weight of heavy online traffic, saw digital content streaming surge to record levels -- more than two terabytes of data per second.

"Take a busy day for Akamai and double it, that is where you are," said Akamai corporate communications director Jeff Young. "It was an immense online streaming day."

Akamai said its EdgePlatform was streaming more than seven million video feeds, most of them live, at points during Obama's acceptance speech.

"In addition to the historic nature of the Inauguration, it is now clear that this event has driven unprecedented demand from a global online audience," said Akamai marketing vice president Robert Hughes.

During the inauguration, the number of Haiku-style updates fired off by users of Twitter leapt fivefold, the micro-blogging service said.

"Overall, Twitter sailed smoothly through the inauguration but at the peak, some folks did experience a 2-5 minute delay receiving updates," a Twitter blog entry said.

"We'll be analyzing this later today so that during the next massively shared global event there is no appreciable delay. Exciting!"

Hot social-networking website Facebook said the rate of profile page updates surged, peaking at an unprecedented 8,500 per minute during Obama's speech.

Facebook and CNN had teamed together to let viewers post comments or other updates to their social network pages while watching the news organization's online broadcast of the inauguration.

A contributing factor to the online popularity of the inauguration was likely that the swearing-in of Obama took place when many people in the United States were at work with computers and high-speed Internet.

"The Internet is more mature; broadband adoption has grown, and the galvanizing nature of the inauguration all played a part," Young said.

"Combined with it being 11:00 am on a Tuesday, when the East Coast is in the office, the West Coast is getting to work and Europe is home online."

Millions scrambled to sign in, watch the trailblazing proceedings live from homes or offices... and air their views for the entire world.

One US blogger said the National Mall, where the ceremony was held, was once a slave market and that the White House was built by black slaves.

Others feted the entry of the first black man in the White House.

"You stand today as a beacon of hope for the world," wrote Farayi Makwanya from Britain. "Change has come to the US and indeed to the whole world. People of all races are smiling..."

Unflattering references to Obama's predecessor George W. Bush quickly clogged up the blog sites.

A post on the New York Times site said the "brass band picks up as if to drown the boos" accompanying Bush and outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney.

The frenzy was not without dangers.

Hackers were using dozens of fake websites linked to Obama's inauguration to spread a virus on the Internet, Panda Security warned.

More than 70 websites are running a bogus news story titled "Barack Obama has refused to be a president," aimed at tricking Internet users into downloading the computer virus, according to Panda.

It said the cyber-attack appeared to have originated in China, based on analysis of the website domain names, which were all bought by a Chinese company linked to previous cyber-attacks.

In India, the world's largest democracy, messages of hope flooded the website of NTDV, one of the country's top television channels airing the proceedings live on the Internet.

"Eight years of seeing things as black or white have resulted in two possibly failed wars and a tarnished reputation the world over," wrote a man who identified himself as Siddharth.

NDTV said Obama would have a "clearer shot at greatness than any of his recent predecessors," precisely due to the burdensome legacy he was inheriting from Bush.

Obama is saddled with recession and has to deal with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the threat of terrorism amid a historic transfer of power.

"But in great crisis lies great opportunity," it said.

A viewer wrote in the New York Times that while the hope invested in Obama was a "little unrealistic," sometimes "people need a hero and a little blind faith.

"Obama is the man! The worst president ever will be followed by the best," he wrote.