Facebook office in HK

Facebook Inc, which has been inaccessible in China since 2009, may start landing advertising from the nation's businesses, but industry watchers are split over the business outlook.
As one of the world's most popular social-networking services (SNS), Facebook Wednesday opened an office in Hong Kong that might attract Chinesecompanies who seek to sell their products overseas, "potentially" to buy advertising from Facebook, an senior official of the company was quoted by Bloomberg as saying Wednesday.
Facebook at present has no customers from China in its direct sales division, according to Jayne Leung, head of the Palo Alto, California-based company's sales operations in Hong Kong.
"Leung said Facebook's (new) office in the Asian region will focus on Taiwan and Hong Kong, which have separate Internet regulations from the Chinese mainland. She couldn't confirm if Chinese companies are already buying advertising by placing orders on Facebook's website, rather than through the direct sales division," Bloomberg reported, giving no more details.
Facebook officials were not available for comment Wednesday.
"Advertising from Chinese companies will make up only a small portion of Facebook's total business, at least in a short term," Jin Naili, an analyst with iResearch, an Internet-based consultancy, told the Global Times Wednesday.
"Export-orientated companies might be interested in advertising on Facebook (due to its) great popularity overseas," Jin said. "But what they are most concerned about is how effective the advertising is - and that is something that is always difficult to judge from abroad," Jin said.
Facebook has more than 500 million users globally and is increasing sales and user numbers in emerging markets including Brazil, India and Russia, according to Bloom-berg.
The Chinese mainland blocks access to some overseas SNS and video websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google's Youtube.
Internet analyst Dong Xu, with Analysys International, is optimistic that Facebook has the potential to generate revenue from Chinese advertisers - especially firms that have international expansion plans.
"Those companies will be most likely to place advertisements (with Facebook)," Dong said.
Previously rumors said Facebook would attempt to re-enter the Chinese market sooner or later by cooperating with Chinese companies.
But no official news has been confirmed, and "no substantial progress has been made", according to Dong.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited China and held meetings with executives at local Internet companies like Baidu Inc and Sina Corp in December.