Twitter appoints new Greater China head as number of Chinese advertisers balloons over 300 per cent

Pioneer microblogging service Twitter has named a new head for its Greater China operations, following a more than 300 per cent growth in the number of its Chinese advertisers the past year.

Although Twitter has been blocked on the mainland since 2009, the San Francisco-based company opened an office in Hong Kong in March last year to court Chinese companies who wish to advertise their products and services to its millions of users around the world.

In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Twitter vice-president for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Emerging Markets Shailesh Rao said seasoned technology executive Kathy Chen was appointed as the new managing director at the firm’s Greater China office in Hong Kong.

“We’ve seen a 340 per cent growth in the number of advertisers [using Twitter], and the types of advertisers are diverse,” Rao said.

These major Chinese advertisers include brands such as Lenovo Group and Huawei Technologies, as well as domestic media outlets like the state-owned Xinhua news agency and People’s Daily.