Friendster strengthens AP presence

SINGAPORE - Social networking site Friendster has strengthened its presence in Asia-Pacific by appointing online advertising sales partners in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines as well as opening offices in Singapore and Australia.

Friendster further said that at least 80 per cent of the company’s hires in 2009 will be based in Asia, which is also where the majority of the site’s staff are based.

According to Friendster, Pixel Media has been named its Singaporean sales partner while Admax Network will manage the same business in Indonesia.

While Friendster’s contract with Admax is a new one, its deal with Pixel extends its three-year partnership with the company.

Pixel was first appointed in 2005 to oversee sales in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Since then, Pixel and Friendster have seen campaigns on the site from brands including adidas, Clinique, L’Oréal, Nike, Nokia and Unilever.

The networking site also signed reseller partners Havoc Digital – which it has worked with since 2005 – and Yehay! in the Philippines.

Friendster also announced the launch of offices in Singapore and Sydney that will manage marketing, sales and business development operations for the markets. Its offices in the Philippines, which primarily manages Friendster’s engineering and operations, have been expanded to include these roles.

According to a Friendster spokeswoman, the company has maintained smaller offices in Singapore, but this marks the first time it launched a larger base in both the market and in Australia.

| online , social media