Our Blog

One of the USAGov program’s core focus areas is improving the benefits experience for our users. With customer experience in mind, we’re excited to share a significant change coming this fall. Benefits.gov, which has been hosted by the Department of Labor since 2002, will be sunsetting at the end of September, and we're creating a new benefits experience on USA.gov and USAGov en Español.

Every year, during the first week of March, government agencies join forces to share consumer safety and scam prevention tips during National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW). 

This year, USAGov will lead conversations on X (formerly Twitter) to connect people to actionable tips and resources from across the government. If you’re part of a government agency, we invite you to take part in this year’s English and Spanish language chats on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at 1 PM and 3 PM ET, respectively.

Last fall, vote.gov and the USAGov program partnered on our first “social media takeover” for a day-long campaign encouraging people to register to vote. As key players connecting people to official government information and services, we rooted this effort in our mutual messaging and goals to help guide the public.

As we shared in our 20th anniversary post, people have come to USAGov en Español since 2003 for official, trusted government information and services in Spanish. The site was created as a counterpart to USA.gov (then known as FirstGov.gov) and in response to Executive Order 13166to improve access to services for people with limited English proficiency (LEP).

We’re excited to celebrate USAGov en Español’s 20th anniversary this month. Since 2003, the site has been a trusted guide to government information and services for Spanish speakers.

Through English and Spanish calls and web chats, the USAGov Contact Center identifies trends in the public’s questions about government services. That knowledge helps USAGov serve them better through our other channels, too. Learn how the contact center and other teams at USAGov support each other in connecting people with their government.

Once USAGov launched beta.USA.gov and beta.USA.gov en Español, the outreach team had to market the new websites to the public. After years of connecting people to government information through social media, email marketing, featured content, and events, we used that expertise to get more eyes and action on the beta sites and encourage users to share their feedback. 

In October, we released beta.USA.gov and beta.USA.gov en Español to the public. These websites are where we are building the next version of USA.gov. We want the future federal front door to be more human-centered, actionable, interactive, and accessible. But how do we know if the choices we have made are accomplishing these goals? 

Introducing the Building Beta Series

The USAGov program has been developing a new iteration of our bilingual sites, USA.gov and USAGov en Español. In the process of building beta.USA.gov and beta.USA.gov en Español, we’ve been rethinking our work style and priorities. Follow the “Building Beta” series to learn how we’re reimagining the way we approach product management, usability, accessibility, content creation, analytics, and outreach. And see our previous post highlighting the ways our beta sites are different from their predecessors.

At USA.gov and USAGov en Español, we’re always looking for better ways to connect people to government information through social media.