Omar Cunningham is a fourth-year student studying business systems and analytics at Stetson University in Florida. Omar was a student-athlete and played wide receiver on his school’s football team before stepping away due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He hopes to have a career as a data analyst for one of the U.S. intelligence agencies and plans to use the skills and tools he developed at the Digital Media Engagement (DME) Team to further his future career. Omar learned about DME through a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) email his mother received. After searching the Virtual Student Federal Service, Omar decided to apply for the internship on the USAJobs website.
In his role as the social analytics department head at DME, Omar oversees the social analytics department and makes sure work is running smoothly within the department. He is the first point of contact for social analytics interns who have questions or concerns about department work.
As for the social analytics department, its primary responsibility is to analyze the metrics from VA social media accounts and its VAntage Point blog, which disseminates stories and relevant information to help Veterans. In addition to this, social analytics interns also record frequently asked questions that appear on VA social media posts and on the VAntage Point blog; they also add relevant labels to VA social media posts.
The social analytics interns play a critical role in DME as their work creates opportunities for social media improvements, provides insight on viewership reception and creates performance reports. This in turn allows DME to improve ways to further the VA’s goals of serving Veterans.
As for advice for prospective DME social analytics interns? Omar recommends spending some time every day looking at social media. Doing so avoids needing to do intensive data analysis late during the week.
Writer: Raymond Lin
Editors: Annabelle Colton, Theresa Lyon
Graphic Designer: Kiki Kelley
