Facebook has one. Google has one. And now Twitter has one too. No, we’re not talking about the latest high-tech water cooler around which employees of some of the Web’s biggest players plot their next move in a bid for world domination. We’re talking about an office in Brazil.
The microblogging site already has 40 million users in the South American country, second only to the US. And it believes by setting up shop there it can get even more. With a population of almost 200 million and a rapidly expanding middle class buying mobile phones by the boatload, that’s entirely likely.
Speaking to Reuters recently, the man in charge of operations in the country, Guilherme Ribenboim, said the new San Paolo office will allow Twitter to “get closer to the users and show the value of our platform.”
“Brazil has rather mature Internet and advertisement markets. Our audience is very big and active,” he said, adding, “We’re going to try to monetize it.” Well, you didn’t think he was going there just so he could visit the Rio Carnival more easily, did you?
Twitter will hope that by establishing a base in Brazil it’ll be able to increase its user base more rapidly, much in the same way that Facebook has done since setting up there. The social networking giant had 25 million users when it opened a base in Brazil 18 months ago but that figure has since rocketed to 65 million.
Bosses at Twitter are also mindful of the fact that two of the world’s biggest sporting events are set to take place in the country in the next three years.
“The World Cup and the Olympic Games offer huge opportunities to leverage and show the potential of Twitter,” Ribenboim told Reuters. “It’s already happening. We’re talking (to advertisers) looking for opportunities, strategies.”
Twitter set a slew of records during the London Olympics last summer, with more than 150 million Olympic-related tweets sent during the 16-day sporting extravaganza.
[Image: Niroworld / Shutterstock]
