More than 1 million Facebook users have "liked" the idea of hosting the '24 Games in L.A., but most of them have come in the "past six weeks from far away from Southern California," according to a report cited by Petrequin & Satter of the AP. Prague-based Socialbakers Senior Data Analyst Michaela Branova, whose firm drew up the report, said, "The fan growth evolution for the LA2024 Facebook page does seem suspicious. Countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan suddenly spike from almost zero to tens of thousands of fans within a few days in February." LA 2024 Chief Communications Officer Jeff Millman said that there was "nothing suspicious about the figures." Millman "declined to divulge how much LA 2024 had spent on promotion." However, he said Facebook ads were "more efficient in countries where there are fewer competing brands." According to Socialbakers, by the end of '16, L.A. had 209,000 or so likes, "nearly all of which came" from the U.S. The report shows that LA 2024 saw an "explosion in support from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Egypt, India, Afghanistan and other low-income countries." The report said that "more than 700,000 of the 1 million accounts that liked LA 2024's Facebook page had done so within the past six weeks." The surge helped LA 2024 "blow past Paris (about 235,000 likes) and hit the million mark at an opportune moment." Petrequin & Satter noted social media support has been "invoked as a selling point" by the L.A. bid (AP, 4/4). In L.A., David Wharton notes the sudden increase "may have been triggered by the bid committee’s international advertising campaign" on Facebook (L.A. TIMES, 4/5).
