(with reporting by Jenifer Reinhardt)

While the headlines about a recent Harris Interactive study focused on the fact that nearly 60% of Americans didn't believe that government was serious about President Obama's open government mandate, we at OhMyGov were more intrigued by a few of the study's other findings. Chief among them is that despite still relying heavily on official gov websites for information, citizens are still struggling to find what they need.

The 2010 Open Government Research Report (pdf), commissioned by software company RightNow, looked at what constituents think the government can do to improve its outreach and in the process become more open. 

When asked what areas of government communications could be improved, more than 7 in 10 people surveyed cited the search functionality on agency websites. This is more than twice the number (34%) who cited Facebook and Twitter presence as an area for improved communications.

These results should serve as a wake-up call for all agency web teams and Gov 2.0 consultants: More than a decade after Google revolutionized web search, federal agencies are still not delivering the kind of search experience that people expect. Search is a core web functionality. Many organizations and companies do it exceedingly well. As a major information provider, one with a very "official" capacity, government agencies absolutely must get search right.  

Here is the list of suggestions about how government can improve its communications:

 •  71% said improving search functionality on agency websites

 •  52% said creating an agency-branded forum or online community

 •  34% said increasing their presence on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter

 •  32% said delivering tailored information via mobile devices

Among those polled, 96% said government agencies could improve how they interacted with constituents. No surprise there --- in fact, I'd love to talk to the 4% of people who think government agencies are communicating perfectly.

Other findings that caught our eye were the reasons people cited for why they liked interacting with federal agencies online: 86% of those enjoyed the experience because they could do it on their own time instead of according to agency operating hours; 80% said they received the information faster; 72% said the information was more detailed, and 49% like to go online in order to support the agency's mission.

What these findings say to us is that Americans now treat citizen-facing government agencies as they do online stores. Just like Amazon.com, government is expected to always be open and provide a fast, information-rich "customer service" experience.

Despite this, 86% of respondents said they still prefer talking to the government on the phone, preferably with a living and breathing human. This probably has to do with people's lack of faith in the search engines on government sites --- citizens cannot be sure they are finding everything they need, so they prefer to speak to a presumably-more-knowledgeable human.

There may be deeper roots behind our desire for human connection with government too. The U.S. is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, and at some level we are uncomfortable turning over our interactions entirely to the impersonal realm of websites and search boxes. Here is where we at OhMyGov think the value of Facebook, Twitter and other social media come into play --- these Web 2.0 tools enable government to realize many of the benefits of digital communications such as archiving, one-to-many broadcasting, and searchability, while also presenting a more human face to citizens who desire direct dialogue.   

Also of note: constituents interviewed aren't sure that the federal government is ready for the challenge ahead. Although nearly 70% of respondents think the government should use social media to promote transparency, only 43% believe that they can actually pull it off in 1 to 5 years. And 22% don't believe they will ever achieve the same level of competency online as some commercial organizations.

The research was done in March of this year via phone interviews with 1,007 Americans over the age of 18.