Govtech.com Launching New Features and Enhancements

Can it really be that we’re already on the backside of 2011? For me, time seems to be passing at an increasing — and alarming — rate. I noticed the days began slipping away more quickly when I became a father three years ago. With our small family set to grow again in August, I imagine the weeks and months will roll along faster than ever. It’s an interesting phenomenon: Tomorrow comes more hastily into view as yesterday fleets into a hazy memory. As I struggle to impart lessons of patience to my very active son — and to practice those lessons myself — that part of my brain tasked with recording snapshots seems less like a high-end digital camera and more like cheap, disposable one.

For those who share my experience, I suspect it’s due in part to the world we inhabit, both online and off. Like almost every other organization, one of our goals here at Government Technology is to continually improve our little corner of cyber-space. But with so much online content begging for attention, the changes we’ve recently made may have gone unnoticed in your vast cyber-world.

I’d like to use this space to highlight a snapshot of what we’re doing on govtech.com to better serve you.

First, I encourage you to make the site part of your daily Web surfing routine. We’ve added an enhanced commenting feature in all of our stories that eliminates the hoops you had to jump through to share your point of view. Now it’s easy to add your voice to any story or respond to someone else’s comment. Plus, our improved Facebook page — which I also encourage you to visit — is another way you can easily share articles and your thoughts.

We’ve also added buttons to facilitate sharing articles you like via Twitter and Facebook. On the righthand side of our site you can find our “Buzz” box, a module that shows who has been tweeting articles. And more buttons that link to popular social media sites are forthcoming.

One new feature we’re adding is a widget that links to popular items posted at GovLoop.com. This is run by GovLoop president and founder Steve Ressler, whose column Gov2020 appears monthly in Government Technology.

Lastly, I’m continuing to work with our IT staff toward building a discussion board. My goal is to make govtech.com more than a place to quickly browse. I want you to stay on the site and engage your peers, share your opinion, learn new things and hopefully, make a few lasting memories along the way.