London — Popular micro-blogging service Twitter, which has proved a hit with President Barack Obama and Stephen Fry among others, is heading across the pond to establish its first office outside the United States sometime in 2011, with company representatives meeting with London property agents last week, according to British newspaper The Telegraph.
The London newspaper stated that Twitter’s London office will manage all of the company’s European operations. “It would essentially be used as a sales office as Twitter strives to turn its popularity into cash via advertising and sponsored tweets,” the Sunday Telegraph reported.
“There were a few of us in London this week,” a Twitter spokesperson told the Sunday Telegraph. “We are weighing London and other European locations to create an initial and small presence in 2011.”
Currently, Twitter sells ads only on a global basis, but considerations are under way to sell ads on a country-by-country basis, according to the newspaper.
Representatives from the site are said to have looked at property in both the West End area of London as well as a neighborhood the Telegraph refers to ir as “Silicon Roundabout.” It derives that name because there is a high concentration of tech companies based there.
The Economist mentioned that Silicon Roundabout mostly houses small-to-medium sized niche firms, such as a company that builds software for the fashion industry, an online dictionary, and a slew of digital design firms. The area started getting attention from the tech industry in 2008 and there are now about a hundred related businesses located in the neighborhood.
Furthermore, the Silicon Roundabout is about to get a huge funding from the British government in the form of £400 million to create a “Tech City” and encourage more interest and innovation in the area.
The London office will be handled by former Google employee Katie Jacobs Stanton, the new head of international strategy at Twitter and special adviser to the U.S. State Department’s innovation office.
But just as the company is finally starting to launch ad services in the United States, it is preparing to make money from that international audience too. Last month, PC Magazine reported that Twitter had added new countries and cities to its trending topics. Previously, Twitter only offered trending topics in major U.S. cities like New York City or Washington D.C. The recent update added 13 more countries and six new cities, which include both London and the U.K., among other locales.
The site caters to more than 175 million registered users. More than 95 million tweets — messages with a 140-character limit — are sent each day. Twitter debuted in 2006.
Among the famous personalities who have joined Twitter in 2010 are Bill Gates (@billgates), Cher (@cher) and Tiger Woods (@tigerwoods).