The former name of the US Government’s information portal has been mercifully replaced with the domain name USA.gov and a Spanish-language counterpart, GobiernoUSA.gov.
“FirstGov dot gov” never really had a flow to it. Saying it out loud made it appear to be something decided upon by the Department of Redundancy Department and overseen by the Ministry for Silly Walks.
That was unfortunate, because the various federal agencies which we fund with our tax dollars have amassed an incalculable amount of useful information. Being able to find it online proved very challenging, which was why FirstGov came into being.
Significant efforts were made to improve the portal, most notably in the area of search. Technology from Vivisimo and MSN debuted on FirstGov, and the revamping made at the site earned it recognition from Brown University as the best website out of 51 federal sites assessed.
Fixing the name took a few more months, and their choice of USA.gov reflects how people have been looking for the site anyway, according to a General Services Administration spokesperson.
The site receives over 80 million visits a year, with searchers seeking details on jobs, grants, laws, and other data. In 2006, over 600,000 people used USA.gov to get to FirstGov.gov, indicating a formal domain name change should go smoothly.
Just to give an idea of what people look for on USA.gov, here is a list of their latest most popular search terms:
1. Passport
2. Grants
3. Immigration
4. Employment
5. Social Security
6. Loans
7. Careers
8. Housing
9. Training
10. Visas
People can also see what other visitors are interested in by checking out the American Minds page on USA.gov.
Now that there is a new Congress in place, it is a perfect time to visit USA.gov and use its resources to find one’s lawmaker and associated contact information. Let them know what you think about the issues of today; after all, they do work for you.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
