War stories a hit on Facebook

As another Remembrance Day approaches, Veterans Affairs Canada is hoping to build on the smashing success of its first foray into social media a year ago.

With $2.5 million in funding from the Privy Council Office, the department jumped into social media with both feet last fall.

It started a Facebook page called Canada Remembers, and a YouTube channel showing videos with a remembrance theme.

The Facebook page now has a whopping 250,000 fans, with 10,000 clicking the "like" button in the last month alone. And there have been 62,000 views of the videos.


The department's social media initiative was so successful that other government departments and Google are using it as a case study on how government can effectively use social media.

It's a tough act to follow, admits Teresa MacLean, the department's director of production and outreach.

But she hopes a new iPhone application called We Remember, developed for the department, will keep the momentum going.

The app, which can be downloaded free from Apple's App Store, provides direct access to the Facebook page, the YouTube videos, Remembrance Day events and the department's programs and services.

"Already we got a raving review on iAppcanada.ca," boasts MacLean. "It's now rated in the top-25 at the Apple Store for social networking."

In addition, the launch of a Twitter account with a commemorative theme is imminent, she says.

Last Wednesday, Veterans Affairs released a new one-minute video called I am a Veteran, focusing on the faces of several veterans.

Within a day, nearly 2,000 people had viewed it on the Canada Remembers Facebook page, and hundreds more had watched it on the YouTube channel.

MacLean believes the department should use social media to get its message to as many Canadians as possible.

"I just think it's a natural fit as we get more people using mobile devices and social media pages," she says. "If we want to reach out to youth about remembrance and military history, it's certainly a way of doing that."

It's also a good way to get information about the department's services and benefits out to modern-day veterans, she says.

But the Facebook and YouTube sites attract visitors from all demographic groups, including Second World War veterans in their 80s and 90s.

"I don't think we can put people in boxes any more and say, 'OK, we have to use this tool to reach this type of audience'," MacLean says.

When the department started its website, she recalls, people told her veterans wouldn't see it because they were too old to use the Internet. "I always said, 'If they're not on it, their kids are on it'."

Though traffic peaks during Veterans' Week, the Facebook page is active throughout the year.

This year, the department used it to highlight the 65th anniversaries of the liberation of the Netherlands and Canada's participation in the Italian campaign.

And on Canada Day, Canadians from around the world posted thanks to veterans. "I was getting goosebumps reading that kind of stuff," MacLean admits.