Hack Blogspot

Social networking site Facebook is opening an operations office in India, its first in Asia, to help manage rapid growth in the number of users. The office, in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, will have advertising and developer support teams, the company said Monday. It will supplement Facebook's other centers in Palo Alto, California; Dublin, Ireland; and Austin, Texas. The move is part of a push to create support centers across time zones, with round-the-clock, multilingual support, the company said. The number of Facebook users has rocketed to over 400 million since it was founded in 2004. Seventy percent of users are now outside the U.S. and use the site in over 70 languages, Don Faul, director of global online operations, said in his blog Monday. "In India alone, we've seen rapid growth and now have more than 8 million people there actively connecting on Facebook," he said.

In the past, we’ve  posted several times  about Facebook’s office space, but nothing quite like today’s post. Facebook recently moved their offices out of several smaller locations spread throughout Palo Alto, CA and into one central, 150,000-square-foot building that used to house Agilent Technologies. Many of the building’s original features either remain or have been repurposed for Facebook’s use. The space was designed by  studio o+a  who took time to interview employees to see what they wanted and what would make their work experience better and more productive. Employees collaborated with designers throughout the entire process to ensure the best product possible. Because of the differing departmental needs, small neighborhoods within the building were created giving each department its own unique flavor and vibe.