Indiana’s government website, IN.gov, now boasts 1 million registered users – people who receive emails, text messages, and RSS feeds from the site. IN.gov links to 82 state agency websites and there are 1600 topics to which anyone can subscribe.

Govtech.com reports today about the landmark in the article “1 Million Users Register for Indiana Digital Updates” by Sarah Rich. The article says, “According to Indiana, the state is the first in the country to reach 1 million registered users through GovDelivery.”

It is easy to see why In.gov is such a success. The site is clean, nice-looking, and easily navigable. You can readily find social media links, a subscription menu, transparency information, links for offering suggestions and sending email, and even a QR code.

I couldn’t help but be impressed with the degree to which Indiana’s Office of Technology has done its homework. They have analyzed the usage of the website by monitoring whether the agencies are releasing information regularly for each subscription topic and whether anyone is subscribing to the feed. If not, the topic is removed. They have determined the program has saved them over $200,000 in costs by reducing the need to print and mail information.

State and local governments, take note!

GovTech.com has published an interesting read about the relationship between technology and the elections industry.

The article, “Perspective: 5 Tech Trends in the Elections Industry“by Nicole Ciotti, lists trends to expect in the upcoming elections. Mobile phone optimized websites, mobile apps, and social media platforms will be prominent in voter outreach and in educating the public prior to the elections. Those tools will be an advantage in offering news and updates during and after the elections as well.

Photo of the vote sign by Tom Arthur on Wikipedia.