Before moving into the next-gen realm (whatever that turns out to be), there's still time to optimize your government Web portal with today's hottest features. According to Paul W. Taylor, chief strategy officer of the Center for Digital Government, here are five technologies a Web portal shouldn't be without:

1. Social networking: "It is simple, free and it may even seem quaint and gimmicky. But a growing number of public-sector applications and portals have put a stake in the ground in MySpace and Facebook in a way that establishes themselves where people actually like to congregate and then draws them back into the [government] portal," Taylor said. It's perilous to ignore the social networking phenomenon, he said.

2. Mash-ups and blogs: Governments have been yearning for true two-way communication with citizens. Blogs and mash-ups can be used for this purpose. A good example is what happened during fires in San Diego in 2007, Taylor said, when private citizens uploaded their camera phone photos to Flickr, giving emergency responders a way to monitor fire conditions and map them on Google Maps.

3. Twitter and short messages: "You should do this because that's where the people who are coming of age are," Taylor said. Twitter is a popular service that lets subscribers update each other about their everyday activities - in no more than 140 characters at a time - via BlackBerry, cell phone and traditional Web browsers. Governments "tweet" to citizens about events such as crimes and fires, as well as more mundane functions.

4. Mobile device applications: One-third of all households and two-thirds of all households under age 30 don't use a traditional landline for computers, Taylor said. Perfecting the Web portal for a desktop or laptop isn't enough. Web portals must be squeezed down for the smaller screens of mobile devices.

5. Audio: YouTube is great, but it's not the only option. "I still haven't given up on audio. It's lighter to the touch - both technologically and to produce - and there's a captive, earbud-wearing audience that we haven't tapped successfully yet," Taylor said. Podcasts haven't gotten their due yet because governments haven't condensed their audio material enough to fit in the shuffle mode of an iPod. Audio should be no longer than four minutes, he said.