Twitter is looking to double its staff in Singapore in the next two years in a bid to attract new users and advertisers in Asia. Shailesh Rao, vice president for Asia Pacific and the American and emerging markets, told The Wall Street Journal that the company is keen to increase the number of employees, adding 100 more in Singapore to the 80 employees there at present.
Twitter eying emerging markets
The micro-blogging site set up a small office in Singapore in 2013 and only recently shifted to a larger office, which is now its Asia-Pacific headquarters. Rao stated that Twitter is determined to increase staff throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, the company has offices in Jakarta, Seoul, Tokyo, Sydney and in the Indian cities of Mumbai and Gurgaon.
“We need more capabilities and more people doing what they’re doing already,” in jobs such as sales, marketing, finance and more, Rao said.
Twitter is eying a bigger user base in emerging nations such as India and Indonesia in order to rake in users and advertising dollars, according to analysts. Twitter earns a major portion of its revenue from advertising and hence would seek to enhance revenue from the emerging markets with user growth saturating in developed markets such as the U.S. and the U.K.
For the three months ending in March, Twitter had a user base of 302 million, and around 72% of those users were outside the United States. Revenue for the company spiked 74% from the previous year to $435.9 million but was below the analyst projections.
No plans to enter China?
Though Twitter is banned in China for privacy concerns, it could help to organize a mass protest. However, the micro-blogging network set up an office in Hong Kong to serve users in Greater China and earn advertising revenue from fast-emerging Chinese companies such as smartphone makers Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi.
On being asked if Twitter will ever flow freely in China, Rao said that the company would certainly welcome any such development. However, he also clarified that they are not in any conversations with the government as of now. Twitter is not the only Western company that is blocked in China. Tech giants like Google’s YouTube and Facebook are also banned.
On Wednesday, Twitter shares closed down 0.11% at $35.85, and year to date, the stock is almost flat.
