With 8 million local friends, Facebook sets up office in India

Says Don Faul, director of global online operations on the Facebook blog, "Today in India we unveiled our intentions to open an office in Hyderabad.

"In India alone, we've seen rapid growth and now have more than 8 million people there actively connecting on Facebook with their friends, family, and other people they know, both within India and around the globe."

According to Faul's post, "seventy percent of the people using Facebook are outside the United States and are accessing the service from more than 70 languages." The new operations centers in Austin and Hyderabad will supplement their support teams in the Palo Alto headquarters in California and another office in Dublin, Ireland.

Said Faul in Hyderabad, "People in India and around the world are using Facebook to do everything from voicing their opinions on national issues, to connecting with fellow cricket and hockey fans, to sharing photos with their friends and family. We expect our new office in Hyderabad to tap into the region's strong pool of talented people who understand operations and technology, and help us more effectively serve the needs of our users, advertisers, and developers around the world."

They're hiring too, people for online sales and operations teams at www.facebook.com/careers