"Kony 2012 was a very big thing, but attention died afterwards,"

Some researchers took issue with what they called a loose adherence to facts in the mini-documentary, but Kony 2012's impact in raising public awareness of the LRA is difficult to overstate.

Other American organizations also took an active role in the hunt for Kony.

 One was Bridgeway Foundation, run by a Texas philanthropist named Shannon Sedgwick Davis. It paid mercenaries to train African Union soldiers searching for Kony.

"To be clear, the objective of our work was never a manhunt for Kony, we set out to protect civilians who were being abducted and massacred," Davis told NBC News.

Inside the Green Berets’ Hunt for Wanted Warlord Joseph Kony