To Gov 2.0 And Beyond

It has been a very active month in the Government 2.0 universe. The Gov 2.0 Expo in Washington, D.C. ended this week, just in time for Facebook to launch its government page. Not to be outdone, Google launched a government page recently too.

We appear to be in the midst of a culture shift in the public sector. The momentum of the Obama campaign and President Obama’s subsequent win is beginning to spill over into the administration itself. The most telling event was the release of the United States Government’s own App Store, Apps.gov, created by US Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra.

Interestingly, under the Blogs and Microblogs section, there is only one app: WordPress. Where’s Twitter? Conspicuously absent.

The emergence of a more tech-friendly government can only mean good news for startups. At best it will lower costs, improve efficiency, and provide citizens with yet another window into public offices. At worst, it will throw more information into an already crowded Internet or provide hackers with another tunnel to infiltrate sensitive databases.

It has already sprung a host of enthusiasts, notably Adriel Hampton who recently ran in the California District 10 race. Other great resources are TechPresident, SocialGovernment, and the new Huffington Post Technology section.

My conclusios: Gov 2.0 is on the move and it’s good for the country. It’s also good for B2G. You can’t beat that!