State Department Spent $630,000 on Facebook Likes
Jul 5, 2013 17:10:43 GMT -5
Post by schwartzie on Jul 5, 2013 17:10:43 GMT -5
No Money for Benghazi Security, But State Department Spent $630,000 on Facebook Likes
July 4, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield
I wonder how much security that $630,000 would have bought for the Benghazi mission. But Hillary knew where the money really needed to go. Buying Facebook fans.
State Department officials spent $630,000 to get more Facebook “likes,” prompting employees to complain to a government watchdog that the bureau was “buying fans” in social media, the agency’s inspector general says.
The department’s Bureau of International Information Programs spent the money to increase its “likes” count between 2011 and March 2013.
Despite the surge in likes, the IG said the effort failed to reach the bureau’s target audience, which is largely older and more influential than the people liking its pages. Only about 2 percent of fans actually engage with the pages by liking, sharing or commenting.
In September 2012 Facebook also changed its approach to users’ news feeds, and the expensive “fan” campaigns became much less valuable. The bureau now must constantly pay for sponsored ads to keep its content visible even to people who have already liked its pages.
Also less valuable are four dead Americans in a mission that did not receive adequate security, while Hillary’s State Department was squandering money on overpriced Kindles, art in embassies and Facebook likes.
But as Hillary said, “What difference does it make anyway?”
frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/no-money-for-benghazi-security-but-state-department-spent-630000-on-facebook-likes/
July 4, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield
I wonder how much security that $630,000 would have bought for the Benghazi mission. But Hillary knew where the money really needed to go. Buying Facebook fans.
State Department officials spent $630,000 to get more Facebook “likes,” prompting employees to complain to a government watchdog that the bureau was “buying fans” in social media, the agency’s inspector general says.
The department’s Bureau of International Information Programs spent the money to increase its “likes” count between 2011 and March 2013.
Despite the surge in likes, the IG said the effort failed to reach the bureau’s target audience, which is largely older and more influential than the people liking its pages. Only about 2 percent of fans actually engage with the pages by liking, sharing or commenting.
In September 2012 Facebook also changed its approach to users’ news feeds, and the expensive “fan” campaigns became much less valuable. The bureau now must constantly pay for sponsored ads to keep its content visible even to people who have already liked its pages.
Also less valuable are four dead Americans in a mission that did not receive adequate security, while Hillary’s State Department was squandering money on overpriced Kindles, art in embassies and Facebook likes.
But as Hillary said, “What difference does it make anyway?”
frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/no-money-for-benghazi-security-but-state-department-spent-630000-on-facebook-likes/
