Web Traffic on WashingtonWatch.com Grew 350% in 2007
More Citizens Accessing Government Transparency and Activism Tools
December 31, 2007
Contact: Jim Harper (202) 486-0824
http://www.washingtonwatch.com
Washington, D.C. — Monthly visits to WashingtonWatch.com grew by more than 350% in 2007, and the number of pages served to the public grew by more than 400%. Visitors to the site cast more than 50,000 votes on the bills pending in Congress, and they posted more than 11,000 comments. All told, more than a half-million people downloaded more than 1.2 million pages of information from WashingtonWatch.com in 2007.
"We are very pleased at the growth in traffic and use of the site," said Jim Harper, Webmaster of WashingtonWatch.com. "People are using WashingtonWatch.com to access and share information about the bills in Congress. We have an increasingly active and aware, Web-enabled citizenry."
WashingtonWatch.com rolled out several tools to expand its usefulness during the year, most notably "wiki" functionality for each bill page. This technology allows the public and Beltway experts to post information and arguments supporting or opposing the bills in Congress.
The new WashingtonWatch.com widget allows bloggers and Webmasters to post vote totals for the bills they care about on their Web sites. This has promoted public awareness and activism on WashingtonWatch.com.
"We will continue working to give people the information they want in 2008," said Harper. "We expect traffic growth to continue. The Beltway will have to respond to public demand for information as we continue to change the way the nation's business is conducted."
Among many other tools, WashingtonWatch.com uses government predictions about the costs or savings from proposed laws to calculate the significance to average Americans - in dollars and cents - of proposed changes to the nation's policies. More information about WashingtonWatch.com is available on the "about" page of the Web site.
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