The Scottish Government spent more than £450,000 on Facebook advertising over four years, it has been revealed.

Figures released in response to a freedom of information request by STV News show £452,699.42 was spent on Facebook promotional campaigns between January 2011 and December 2014.

Used as an "engagement tool" to "communicate positive behavioural choices" and inform the public in changes in legislation, Facebook campaigns covered subjects such as recycling, active travel and winter festivities.

The highest spend on an individual campaign was in 2012, when £35,919 was spent on Winter Festivals promotion - the celebration of St Andrews Day, Hogmanay and Burns Night.

Spending on advertising campaigns in 2014 (£163,327.58) was more than five times the value of that in 2011 (£30,375) and the number of campaigns launched has increased from three in 2011 to 23 in 2014.

The Scottish Government said the strategy allows it to "target specific and niche audiences" while building global communities.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government marketing unit uses Facebook as an engagement tool to talk to target audiences to communicate positive behavioural choices and to inform of changes to legislation or access to services.

"Facebook is also a key pillar in the Government's diaspora engagement strategy and the promotion of Scotland on the international stage.

"Facebook advertising allows us to target specific and niche audiences by age or community. For example, our recent motorbikes campaign targeted men age 40-49 who enjoyed motorcycling.

"The Facebook page grew a community of 12,500 who commented, shared or tagged our content achieving a total of 86,911 engagements.

"The campaign content had a total reach of 2,487,152 and generated nearly 200,000 views of the campaign film on YouTube.

"Our international page About Scotland has built a community of 185,000 people around the globe and sees peak engagement around St Andrews Day and Burns Night of 145,000 and 161,000 respectively."

Chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance Jonathan Isaby criticised the expenditure.

He said: "Taxpayers will be astonished that their hard-earned cash has been squandered on pricey Facebook ads.

"Times are tough and every single penny must go on essential services for hard-pressed families. At the very least, departments must demonstrate that social media activity is getting value for taxpayers' money"

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