Circular logic: do you "do social media because you do social media?"

An article aimed at companies, so just substitute "government communicators" for "corporate marketers", and "citizens" for "consumers", as you read: "Technology changes fast ... but consumer behavior changes more slowly. As a result, people tend to overhype new technologies and misallocate resources, especially marketers. "posts from top brands on Twitter and Facebook reach just 2% of their followers (note: that’s followers, not new customers) and only 0.07% of those followers actually interact with those posts... people are more likely to complete a Navy Seal training program or climb Mount Everest than click on a banner ad.... a display ad is deemed “viewable” if at least half of each ad is visible on your computer or smart phone for a minimum of one second... more than half of online display ads appear on parts of a web page that are not viewable. It’s now common to say that social media is “really” about awareness, not sales... In fact, forget “traditional” ROI (that lovely qualifier), focus on consumer use of social media and... measure the number of visits with that social media application. How convenient: to be evaluated with a metric without tangible marketplace outcomes... a circular argument, and smart companies should not follow this flawed business logic. It’s time to expect more from social media and prove it." - Is Social Media Actually Helping Your Company’s Bottom Line? - HBR