Facebook is increasing its presence in Indonesia by saying it is '€œhiring'€ domestic talent to spearhead its way into the lucrative digital advertising market.

The social networking site, however, was quick to quell speculation it would open a country office.

Facebook Asia Pacific vice president Dan Neary said on Wednesday that Facebook had '€œhistorically'€ managed businesses, like approaching advertisers, in Indonesia out of a country office in Singapore.

'€œWe are managing a lot of these things remotely,'€ he said.

'€œA lot of the activities in educating advertisers on Facebook advertising tools are done online and also via call centers.'€

However, he said Facebook had '€œstarted looking for resources that are going to help us on the ground in Indonesia'€, beginning around the previous month.

He said Facebook needed this local team to accelerate its digital advertising business among its prime targets '€” large enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMB).

'€œFor any type of expansion scenario, we need people who know the market better and the community that they are helping, whether they are big enterprises, SMBs or advertising agencies,'€ he said.

Neary added that Facebook felt '€œthe time is right to have people in Indonesia to play those roles [given that] Indonesia is a rapidly developing country, particularly in digital advertising'€.

Facebook'€™s career page has posted two open positions for Jakarta, Indonesia.

The first is a '€œFacebook advertising expert'€ and the other is as an agency partner in charge of working with '€œmajor media representatives and sellers'€.

Yet, Neary was quick to dismiss speculation the move meant the social networking site was to open a country office in Indonesia.

'€œWe do not have any news on an office opening up,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

Facebook, which employs 5,000 workers worldwide, runs offices in major markets preceding Indonesia, officially its fourth-largest country in terms of user base.

The networking site is headquartered in Menlo Park, the US '€” its largest market '€” and has set up country offices in India and Brazil, its second- and third-largest markets, respectively.

A study by digital media research company eMarketer, predicts that digital ad spending in Indonesia will hit US$1.16 billion by 2016, from $41 million in 2014.

However, Indonesia has yet to assume the same role when it comes to advertising revenue contributions although the archipelago, with its 65 million monthly active Facebook users, is a key country in terms of user base.

'€œIn terms of overall contributions, advertising is not as well developed in Indonesia as it is elsewhere in the world,'€ Neary said.

The study by eMarketer shows that China still leads Asia in terms of digital ad spending in the Asia Pacific, and is expected to spend $17.51 billion by 2016.

Neary pointed out the team in Indonesia would later be responsible for '€œeducating'€ the market '€” especially SMBs looking to level up their playing field in both local and global competition with larger enterprises '€” on digital advertising, particularly through Facebook.

Besides Facebook, Google Indonesia has been actively targeting SMBs for their services, including advertising.

Neary added Facebook would leverage its strong mobile capabilities in garnering advertisers from
Indonesia.

'€œOf the 65 million monthly active users in Indonesia, 55 million of them are on a mobile device,'€ he said, adding that Facebook had 33 million daily active users in the country.

'€œThe fact that 55 million of the 65 million monthly active users are driven by mobile use is a record for us in Indonesia,'€ he added.

The Association of Indonesian Internet Providers (APJII) expects Internet users to reach 139 million in 2015, from 107 million in 2014.

Experts point out that the adoption of smartphones, the market share of which is estimated by Accenture to reach 42 percent in 2016 as prices drop, will be a driver of Internet usage.