VA amps up social media presence

More than two years after the Dept. of Veterans Affairs launched its social media presence, it has developed policy that, in addition to laying out rules geared toward protecting privacy, encourages VA employees to leverage social media to communicate with veterans. The policy includes employees who help connect veterans to health care.

The directive, issued in June, lays out policy and recommendations dealing with all types of Web-based communication. But recognizing that social media has become an important communication tool, the document encourages VA employees to use social media to interact with veterans and provides guidelines on how to use it effectively (link).

"This isn't about using social media because it's cool or because it's a fad," said Brandon Friedman, the VA's director of online communications. "It's about getting the right information to the right veteran at the right time. This policy sets us on a path toward changing how we talk -- and listen -- to vets."

The VA launched social media sites in 2009. It now has more than 100 Facebook pages, 50 Twitter feeds, two blogs, a YouTube channel and a Flickr page. The VA's Facebook pages have a combined subscribership of more than 293,000 fans, including 138,000 on the department's main page. On Twitter, the department's main feed has more than 22,000 followers, and more than 53,000 followers combined are on all of the department's feeds.

A Government Accounting Office report published in June showed that most of the federal government was embracing social media. The report said that 23 of 24 major federal agencies have a social media presence.

The VA said it plans to have an active Facebook page and Twitter feed for all 152 VA medical centers by the end of the year. There are 121 medical centers on Facebook and 54 on Twitter, said Lauren Bailey, deputy director of online communications for the VA. The Veterans Health Administration's main Twitter feed has 8,400 followers. Its Facebook page has more than 38,000 subscribers. The Veterans Health Administration's main Twitter feed has 8,400 followers, and its Facebook page has more than 38,000 subscribers.

According to a website run by Ed Bennett, the director of Web strategy for the University of Maryland Medical Center who tracks the social media presence of the nation's nongovernment hospitals, the number that have invested in social media has grown in the past year. As of June, 1,188 hospitals have a total of 3,952 social media sites. That's a jump from the 871 hospitals that had a total of 2,259 social media sites as of October 2010.

The VA says employees should not use social media to make official contact with a veteran or communicate VA directives or adjudications. But it should be used to share information and increase accountability.