Change certainly came to Washington Tuesday, but change.gov did not. President Obama‘s former transition Web site is now defunct, with a note sending visitors to whitehouse.gov. The official presidential Web address relaunched as a shiny social-media hub at 12:01 p.m.—even before Obama took his delayed oath into office.

Immediately, the twitterati and tumblr set were abuzz over the site, noting how similar it looked to the campaign’s previous sites (with its twilight blue background, Gotham font and a YouTube video highlighting the president-elect’s train journey this past weekend) and marveling at the new chief executive’s continued technological prowess. But it’s worth wondering how many of these observers had ever actually looked at President Bush‘s site. It also had news updates (much like the blog on Obama’s White House site), an “Interactive White House,” a newsroom-like “Setting the Record Straight” feature, and slideshows—and oh yes, that famous Barney cam.

So the real difference is that the new site glosses with the buzzwords of social media and pristine politics: transparency! Participation! RSS feed! All these look good on paper (or, in this case, on screen) but delivering on the many promises won’t be easy—making the Web site a near-perfect metaphor for the entire Obama presidency. The premier blog post, written by the director of new media, Macon Phillips, introduces a framework full of features, few of which are ready to use. Things that do work, like the slideshows, are rife with bugs. Early Tuesday evening, Obama’s new site still referred to him as the president-elect in some places, and a link to a gallery of first families shows you pictures of presidential pets. “[Phillips's] first message was just about openness,” says Rex Sorgatz, an online media consultant who runs fimoculous.com. “But you can’t just crack open a wiki and say, ‘Go at it.’ Even forums or comments won’t produce anything meaningful. You need to have a filter in order for productive discussions to rise to the top.”

Sorgatz and other Web experts agree that the new site has the framework to accomplish this, but that much will depend on how effectively Obama’s new media team develops applications. One plan announced by the White House is to let the public review and comment on non-emergency legislation for five days before the president votes on it. Another allows readers to suggest their own priorities for government, which other readers can vote on, with the most popular plans bubbling up to the Oval Office. “Everything’s worth a shot,” Sorgatz says. “But most likely, the things that will work on the site will be more targeted.” FULL ARTICLE BELOW: