By Jeff Roberts
It is interesting to see a web site that combines the interests of
two of
the least web-savvy groups (according to public perception) out there-senior
citizens and the US government. Though the government now makes good
use of the web for many of its functions, including tax returns, and
seniors are
the fastest growing group of internet users in the country, they seem
to be
overshadowed in a world of young entrepreneurs and flashy web designers.
The Social Securities Administration website at www.ssa.gov,
while not as
flashy and entertaining as other material oriented towards a younger
audience, is one of the more potentially useful pages on the internet.
The site itself is loaded with information. One might say overloaded.
The
social security newsletter is okay, but probably not worth reading
often,
and the social security handbook is so long I couldn't see myself
reading
all of it even if I were filing for social security. Most of what's
on the
page is in text, without too much in the way of formatting. One of
the most
popular features of the site (according to the site itself) is the
social
security office locator, a service which, after entering a zip code,
returns
the address and contact information of the nearest SSA branch along
with a
map (courtesy of MapQuest) of the area around it.
By far the most interesting thing about this site is the fact that
retirees
can use it to file for social security. This makes it yet another
bureaucratic burden which (along with filing taxes or registering
a vehicle)
can now be handled comfortably at home via the web. This type of service
would be seen as a benefit by anyone who hates waiting in line at
inconvenient times, and might be a particular boon for seniors, who
(though
social security recipients can be as young as 65) sometimes aren't
able to
move around as well.
Then again, there is a flip-side to being able to do this on the
web. This
comes from the fact, either because of the impersonality of doing
things
over the web or because the web tends to be so oriented towards
entertainment and games, that the web isn't really taken that seriously
as a
channel of business. Filing for social security is somewhat of a turning
point in a person's life, and I'm not sure if people would feel comfortable
doing it at home in their underwear eating an apple.
So the final question is whether seniors will actually use this service
to
file for social security. Noting the fact that the office locator
seems to
be the most widely used feature on the site, it would appear that
more
people are still arriving in person to file other than doing so over
the
web. However, as was the case with online shopping, one might foresee
a
shift in which doing government business over the web will increase
in
popularity as people become more comfortable with the new medium.