Twitter to open Hong Kong office

7 Nov 2014

Microblogging giant Twitter is to open a new office in Hong Kong early next year with the intention of selling advertising to companies based in the region.

BBC reports the new Twitter office will join the likes of internet search titan Google and social network Facebook in the city.

Twitter has actually been blocked in mainland China since 2009 but that has not deterred the company in its attempts to tap into this potential new source of advertising revenue.

“Our upcoming Hong Kong office in the first quarter will enable us to pursue strategic opportunities in Greater China, such as the China export advertising market, Hong Kong and Taiwan advertising markets, media partnerships, and our new Twitter Fabric integrated with MoPub for mobile developers,” the company told the BBC.

“With half of all internet, mobile and social media users worldwide in Asia today, we see many opportunities across the region.”

Hong Kong has recently been the backdrop for a number of pro-democracy protests. Instagram was added to China’s lengthy list of blocked websites in September after images of police using tear gas on protesters appeared online. Despite being owned by Facebook, a site that has been blocked in China since 2009, Instagram users in the country had enjoyed unrestricted access to the app.

Hong Kong image via Shutterstock

Dean Van Nguyen was a contributor to Silicon Republic

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