Facebook opens Hong Kong office in Asia push

Facebook has opened a Hong Kong office as it looks to boost its presence in Asia, even though the social networking giant is banned in mainland China, a potentially huge market.
The opening of the sales office in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory, comes after Facebook opened an office in Singapore last year, as social networking sites and Internet traffic see a marked rise in the region.
Last March the California-based group announced a new office in the southern Indian IT hub of Hyderabad to deal with advertising and customer support.
The Hong Kong opening, "following Singapore demonstrates Facebook's commitment to Asia, and in particular to Hong Kong and Taiwan, where there are active online populations and sophisticated digital marketing communities," Facebook said in a statement Tuesday.
The company, which already has a network of sales offices in North America and Europe, said more than 80 of the top 100 advertisers in the United States advertise on Facebook, adding that it is working with major brands across Asia.
"We are investing in a team to scale with the business here in the region, and will start with a handful of employees and add more as the business grows," a spokeswoman said.