Government’s Web site gets new name
Old name found to be confusing; survey respondents said they preferred USA.gov.
The U.S. government's official Internet home has a new name because comments from the public indicated that the old moniker -- FirstGov.gov -- was confusing and hard to remember.
The site is now USA.gov, according to a notice on the Web site and the site's URL. Last year, more than 600,000 people typed "USA.gov" into their Web browser when searching for government information, the notice stated.
In a 2006 telephone survey, 79 percent of respondents said they preferred the name USA.gov. Today, Internet users who enter Firstgov.gov into their browsers are redirected to USA.gov.
General Services Administration officials said they could not comment on the alteration, except to say that the site is still in beta phase and the name change "won't be official" until they announce it at a press event Thursday.