An inauguration is and always has been, in virtually every sense, a huge logistical challenge for D.C. Roads must be blocked, scaffolding mounted, emergency services planned. But in at least this one area the logistics get more challenging every four years — communication technology.

See in January 2013, at Barack Obama’s second inauguration, just 51 percent of the American population owned a smartphone (according to Pew). By November 2016, at the research giant’s latest count, that number had risen to 77 percent.

And when many of these Americans converge in the District on Friday, whether they’re here to celebrate or protest, they’ll expect to be able to use those smartphones. They’ll want to call and text their friends, sure, but they’ll also want to Snapchat and Facebook Live and Instagram and whatever else the kids do these days.

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