Twitter opens Hong Kong office in order to reach Chinese advertisers

Just five days after Twitter announced it had opened an office in Jakarta, the social network is now revealing it has set up shop in Hong Kong.

The company first broke the news in a tweet from its Twitter Advertising account, adding that Peter Greenberger, sales director of emerging markets, will be leading the local team.

Twitter says that the Hong Kong office will focus on forming relationships with mainland Chinese advertisers. The company monetizes by displaying “promoted tweets” inside the user feeds on its website, its flagship mobile app, and some third-party clients.

Twitter is inaccessible from mainland China without a VPN. As a result, the company has a marginal presence there – though that hasn’t stopped state-affiliated organizations like the People’s Daily, China’s party mouthpiece newspaper, from getting accounts. The South China Morning Post reports Greenberger stated the company does not intend to revive its consumer-facing presence in the Middle Kingdom.

Twitter’s plans for China resemble those of Facebook, which is also blocked in the country. Since 2011, the company has worked to reach Chinese advertisers from its office in Hong Kong. It is widely believed that Facebook has ambitious plans to re-enter the mainland, with media outlets pointing to an alleged Beijing office space and Zuckerberg’s Mandarin charm offensive as evidence. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for a Dick Costolo Mid-Autumn Festival greeting – but we don’t expect one anytime soon.

Editing by Steven Millward, top image by eldh