Lately it seems like everyone has jumped on the social networking bandwagon, or at least have claimed to do so. One can find buttons for Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and others on the front pages of most Federal agencies, including VA. However, social networking sites are more than just a fad to join in order to boost an organization’s hipness. At VA, we’ve found the internet to be one of the most powerful tools in our mission to reach out to our nation’s Veterans across the country.
While many people equate social media with a younger generation of users, as it turns out, Vietnam and Vietnam-era Veterans represent VA’s fastest growing population of online users. Both VA’s website and our social media pages have allowed VA to reach out to Veterans who have traditionally been geographically isolated, as well as those who live far away from large cities or major military installations. The majority of our Veterans live in rural communities and small towns across this great nation — to include places like Native American tribal lands and Pacific Islands like American Samoa and Guam. In the past, these Vets would have had to make the trek into a VA facility to get information, submit paperwork, or receive care. That is changing. They can now access our online resources to fill out applications, download information and even access care. VA now provides both telemedicine to monitor medical conditions and online mental health counseling via chat rooms. In the past year, we’ve added over 180 Veteran-centric videos to VA’s YouTube channel, which have now been viewed over 250,000 times.
Fonte: White House