Two private-sector initiatives are joining forces to improve and increase access to federal information. GovDelivery, which provides government-to-citizen communications solutions, announced Sept. 28 that it is acquiring GovLoop, the one-year-old social networking site that connects the government community. Terms of the sale were not revealed by the top executives of the two entities.

GovDelivery's digital communication platform is used by more than 300 government entities, including more than half of all federal agencies, local and state governments and several major agencies in the United Kingdom. In just a little more than a year, GovLoop has grown to 18,500 subscribers who talk to each other within the government community.

GovDelivery has been growing at 30 to 40 percent a year since it began in 2001. It now has 60 employees and a revenue of $10 million a year, according to Scott Burns, CEO and co-founder of GovDelivery.

"GovLoop has been called the Facebook for government because it helps people across government collaborate and solve real problems every day," Burns said. "With GovDelivery's resources and expertise, GovLoop's growth will continue to accelerate and help spur social media adoption in government."

As GovLoop has grown, it has attracted high-level administration officials to become part of it and shortly will create GovLoop premium to spur more groups talking about specific issues, said its founder, Steve Ressler. "What began as a simple idea to improve government through collaboration has already grown on a scale well beyond my expectations and is on a trajectory to become much larger," he said.

For more on this merger:
- check out this press release