The US State Department is under fire for spending $630,000 over two years to win millions of "likes" on its Facebook pages at a time of severe government austerity measures.
A scathing report by the department's
independent watchdog took the coordinators
of its social media outreach policy to task saying
it needed to "direct its digital advertising to specific
public diplomacy goals."The report by the Office of
the Inspector General found that two advertising campaigns
launched in 2011 and 2012 cost some $630,000 (£413,000) with
the "goal of building global outreach platforms for engagement
with foreign audiences by increasing the number of fans...
on four thematic Facebook properties."
The report read: "Many in the bureau
criticize the advertising campaigns as
'buying fans' who may have once clicked
on a post or 'liked' a photo but have no
real interest in the topic and have never engaged further."
Although each of the four thematic pages run by
the Bureau of International Information Programs
managed to attract some 2.5 million fans by mid-March,
only about 2 per cent of those actually actively engaged
with the sites by 'liking' topics or sharing information posted on it.
"Many postings had fewer than 100
comments or shares; the most popular ones
had several hundred," the report said.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki
said the report had been taken seriously and
vowed most its recommendations would be
implemented before the start of the 2014 fiscal
year in October."Online advertising has significantly
decreased. It's now at $2,500 a month," she said,
adding that "still allows us to reach out and communicate
with a wide range of individuals living overseas."
The State Department has embraced the wide
outreach made possible through social media,
but is still developing guidelines for how such
sites as Facebook and Twitter should be used
in the world of diplomacy
A scathing report by the department's
independent watchdog took the coordinators
of its social media outreach policy to task saying
it needed to "direct its digital advertising to specific
public diplomacy goals."The report by the Office of
the Inspector General found that two advertising campaigns
launched in 2011 and 2012 cost some $630,000 (£413,000) with
the "goal of building global outreach platforms for engagement
with foreign audiences by increasing the number of fans...
on four thematic Facebook properties."
The report read: "Many in the bureau
criticize the advertising campaigns as
'buying fans' who may have once clicked
on a post or 'liked' a photo but have no
real interest in the topic and have never engaged further."
Although each of the four thematic pages run by
the Bureau of International Information Programs
managed to attract some 2.5 million fans by mid-March,
only about 2 per cent of those actually actively engaged
with the sites by 'liking' topics or sharing information posted on it.
"Many postings had fewer than 100
comments or shares; the most popular ones
had several hundred," the report said.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki
said the report had been taken seriously and
vowed most its recommendations would be
implemented before the start of the 2014 fiscal
year in October."Online advertising has significantly
decreased. It's now at $2,500 a month," she said,
adding that "still allows us to reach out and communicate
with a wide range of individuals living overseas."
The State Department has embraced the wide
outreach made possible through social media,
but is still developing guidelines for how such
sites as Facebook and Twitter should be used
in the world of diplomacy
