Posted on 07/12/2013 5:47:15 AM PDT by John David Powell
Being without friends is no fun. Remember that scene from The Bride of Frankenstein, the one with the old hermit?
“Alone, bad,” the monster noted. “Friend, good.”
Of course, Frank burned down the old hermit’s cottage, but that is the chance one takes when breaking bread and smoking cigars with a big, strong stranger who has a bolt through his neck.
There are days when Uncle Sam must feel that no one likes him, what with people taking leaks on him, waging war against him, or burning down his houses.
So, when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, she decided Uncle Sam should go on Facebook where liking someone is clickin’ easy.
The brain trust at the Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs got the assignment. IIP, as it is known, supports the policy and advocacy works of embassies by providing products and services such as expert speakers, videos, electronic magazines, interactive Web chats, and social media sites.
In other words, IIP creates and communicates Uncle Sam’s image and message to the far corners of the world, terrestrial and cyber.
But as it turned out, the IIP people could not even figure out how to like themselves. The most recent audit by State’s Office of Inspector General found the leadership of this crack communication outfit failed to communicate to staff members the IIP’s strategic vision.
The OIG also said the bosses created “an atmosphere of secrecy, suspicion, and uncertainty” that resulted in morale plummeting.
Two reorganizations, in 2006 and in 2011, did not help. In fact, things got worse, according to the OIG report.
And, in a finding eerily similar to what happened last year with the embassy outpost in Benghazi, Libya, the OIG determined State’s top brass “does not provide effective service. Response times to requests are slow, and customer service is inadequate.”
The OIG and IIP staffers blame the absence of an assistant secretary for a department-wide failure to come up with a communication plan that just about any entry-level public relations person can do the first day on the job.
As the OIG points out, no one at State developed and implemented a plan that provides the right balance between winning over foreign youths and marginalized groups and working with a country’s “elites and opinion leaders.”
Also, no one has apparently figured out how to identify and communicate with target audiences, particularly in a language they understand. (“AND NOW FOR THE NEWS FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED!”)
And the report points out the folks in charge ignored OIG recommendations in 2004 to conduct a management review and come up with a way to tie resources with priorities.
None of this is surprising, though, given that the OIG could not find a legitimate organizational chart. Who’s in charge? No, Who’s on first.
The plan to buy friends on Facebook turns up about halfway into the OIG’s 57-page report. The same managers cited for failing to communicate effectively with staff members came up with a plan to launch two Facebook campaigns, one in 2011and the other in 2012.
The idea, according to the OIG report, was to build “global outreach platforms for engagement with foreign audiences by increasing the number of fans on IIP’s four thematic Facebook properties, primarily through advertising as well as through some page improvements.”
Or not.
IIP spent about $630,000 on the schemes that increased fans on the English-language Facebook site from about 100,000 to more than 2 million for each page. Fans on the foreign-language pages ranged from 68,000 to more than 450,000.
Not everyone at IIP was happy with the results, though. The OIG says many staffers criticized the idea of “buying fans,” which is weird considering we buy foreign leaders all the time. Ain’t that right, Hamid?
They reasoned that Facebook numbers do not prove effectiveness, since a person could click on an ad or “like” a photo, but not care enough about the topic to start a conversation. Be honest, how many times have you “liked” a picture of someone’s half-eaten meal at a restaurant?
The OIG report pointed out a bunch of problems, but failed to mention two important elements. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state at the time, and last year’s deadly attack on the US embassy outpost in Benghazi occurred on her watch while we were busy trying to buy friends on Facebook.
With friends like that, who needs enemies?
The correct movie is “Young Frankenstein”.
Wasn't that scene from the original Frankenstein movie rather than Bride of..?
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