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Twitter boosts presence in Indonesian market
San Francisco-based social media giant Twitter Inc
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an Francisco-based social media giant Twitter Inc. plans to open an office in Indonesia this year to further build its presence in the country, its fifth-largest market in the world.
Twitter's global president of revenue and partnership, Adam Bain, said in Jakarta on Friday that his firm would open the office in Jakarta within the next six months and increase partnership with both local and global brands to support its business expansion in Indonesia.
- Jakarta office will be first in SE Asia outside Singapore
- Twitter has 271 million monthly active users
- RI ranked fifth in Twitter use worldwide last year with 29 million users
'['¦] there is terrific engagement [with advertisers] by consumers using Twitter [in Indonesia] and we are opening an office to help spread that on and then also to help brands and businesses become active in a third way on the platform [Twitter],' he said.
Twitter's Jakarta office will be the firm's first office in Southeast Asia outside Singapore, emphasizing the pivotal role of Indonesia to the firm.
The firm also has a number of offices in other countries within the Asia-Pacific region, namely those in Seoul, South Korea; Sydney, Australia; and Tokyo, Japan.
Bain refused to disclose the amount of investment that his firm would pour into Indonesia, but he told reporters that Twitter would employ a number of people for sales support, media partnership and business development, among others.
Twitter has stated in its latest financial statement that its total capital expenditures this year are projected to be between US$330 and $390 million, with international expansion one of its main agendas.
'['¦] the global business for us is really a growth center for the company and it is place for
providing great focus,' Bain said, adding that Twitter started opening global offices over the last 12 to 18 months.
The firm's overall advertising business represented 129 percent growth in the first half of this year from the same period last year, with its global business advertising revenue outside the US growing by 168 percent year-on-year (y-o-y), he said.
Bain said the Asia-Pacific region was the largest and fastest growing across all Twitter and that Indonesia was one of the most active countries on the social media platform.
Twitter currently has 271 million monthly active users, with 77 percent of its accounts outside the US.
According to a Twitter 2013 report, Indonesia ranked fifth in Twitter use worldwide last year, with 29 million users, trailing the US, Brazil, Japan and the UK.
Twitter, which is chaired by Jack Dorsey, recorded a 122 percent surge in its revenue to US$562.66 million in the first half this year from $253.64 million in the same period last year.
The firm, however, remains unprofitable, booking a net loss of $277 million from $69.25 million y-o-y.
President director of trading consultant firm PT Astronacci International, Gema Goeyardi, said that Twitter's move to expand in Indonesia as well as other emerging markets would help the country capitalize on growing markets.
'The move will also help Twitter compete with other social media platforms such as Path and Instagram, which are popular among Indonesia's youth,' he said.
As of February, Path had more than 20 million users globally, with 4 million or 20 percent of them in Indonesia, according to Path founder and CEO Dave Morin.
