The State Department had its funding for social media slashed after an inspector general’s report found that the department spent $630,000 on two campaigns to increase its Facebook fans on its four different pages.
The report said the campaigns were successful and increased the English Facebook pages from 100,000 fans to more than two million for each page, but the majority of these people were not really engaging with the pages, CNN reported on Wednesday.
“Many in the bureau criticize the advertising campaigns as ‘buying fans’ who may have once clicked on an ad or ‘liked’ a photo but have no real interest in the topic and have never engaged further,” the report, which was obtained by CNN, stated.
