Facebook coy on China expansion plans

Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, is understood to be planning to expand its advertising sales arm to the world's most populated country, China.Sources close to the story have detailed what is believed to be top secret plans to open a Beijing office within the next six months to chase outbound advertising revenue for Chinese brands looking to capture Facebook's 1.1 billion global user base.Marketing understands Facebook staff across the Asia region were told of the plan last Tuesday by vice president of corporate development Vaughan Smith.Smith was also in China last week, but the company's public relations department has played down the visit.Facebook is blocked in China and the move does not signal a softening of Chinese governments stance again the social networking site, the source said.Asia was last week a major focus for the publicly-listed company with chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in Japan to meet partners and advertising executives like Japanese firm Dentsu.The social networking site has dismissed the talk as speculation, saying there were no current plans in place for such a move."There are no plans to open an office in China," said Charlene Chian, Facebook's head of communications in Asia Pacific.Marketing also sought comment from global PR head Debbie Frost and Vaughan Smith, but requests were directed back to the Singapore office.But the move to chase outbound advertising revenue from China makes good business sense.A large number of Chinese firms including Lenovo, Baidu, Huawei, Haier, Air China and Alibaba are looking to US and European markets for growth.In recent years China has emerged as one of the fastest growing advertising markets in the world, on par with the US and Japan.The move would also expand Facebook's Asia footprint, building on established bases in India, Singapore and Hong Kong.Late last year China Daily reported Facebook Exchange had cut a deal with real-time bidding provider iPinYou to allow Facebook to reach more Chinese advertisers who want to place targeted advertisements on Facebook.Facebook Exchange enables advertisers to reach specific types of consumers based on their browsing history.