Saturday, April 23, 2016

Facebook launches its Philippine Office

MANILA - The world’s social media giant Facebook just reached the shores of the Philippines. In an exclusive event last Thursday (April 21) in Makati City, Facebook’s Vice President for Asia Pacific Dan Neary made the exciting announcement in front of various media outlets.

Together with Neary is Digs Dimagiba who will be taking the Manila operations of the world-renowned social media site. Dimagiba was the previous mobile business director of Samsung’s office in the country.

A new era for PH’s business industry

“Today marks a new milestone for Facebook in the Philippines and we are committed to driving innovation that helps Filipinos and businesses connect in more meaningful ways," said Kenneth Bishop, Facebook's managing director for Southeast Asia, in a press release.


The Philippine branch of Facebook is the sixth to be established in Asia, the fourth in the ASEAN region. Other Asian-based offices are located in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

49M Pinoys are on Facebook

With half of the Philippine population engaged in using Facebook as their personal and professional communication platform, it is a no surprise why the country’s name emerged as the newest home in Asia of the twelve-year old social media juggernaut.

“Two thirds of everybody in the Philippines is connected to a company page. We started to look at the dynamics of them. 1 in 3 is actually recommending brands on Facebook and it’s a discovery vehicle for most of users. Ninety-five percent of them are talking and discovering products on Facebook,” according to Neary during a talk with the press that night.

Globally, Facebook takes pride of having 1.59 billion of active users per month, with 49 million Filipinos comprising the number. According to Facebook, among the 49 million Pinoy users, 44 million are accessing the site through their mobile devices. That accounts to a whopping 91% of the Filipino internet population.

Facebook PH will make it easier for businesses

The establishment of a Facebook office doesn’t only secured the country’s reputation as one of its leading users in the world but rather, the launching further solidified the reputation of the Philippines as a new global business hub in Asia.

Aside from that, local businesses and publishers will now be provided with easier means to jumpstart the promotion of their brands. A Philippine-based office of Facebook will be instrumental in a more convenient partnerships building, product branding and promotions for companies.

Facebook PH is hiring

As a new company, Facebook Philippines is currently looking for qualified people to fill the vacant positions needed to fire up the company’s domestic operations particularly an outsource site manager who will be tasked “to run outsourcing site operations and to manage vendor relationships.”

Also the company is in need of a regional product marketing manager who is expected “to drive product adoption and go-to-market strategies in the high-growth markets in Asia-Pacific.”

Facebook Philippines is temporarily housed at Regus Business Center on the 35th floor of the Eco Tower located in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig with already five people working behind it including Dimagiba as its head.

--Michael Santiago

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