Twitter taps country south of the equator for newest regional office

Twitter has confirmed it is setting up shop in Brazil in the hope of capitalising on the nation's social media-obsessed populace.

In terms of membership, the South American country is Twitter's second biggest market after the United States, with 40 million people using the service.

The microblog said the latest regional expansion will help it "get closer to the users" and, more pertinently, clog-up their timelines with more country-specific advertising.

The new country manager for Brazil, Guilherme Ribenboim said: "We believe our new office in Brazil will allow us to get closer to the users and show the value of our platform.

"Brazil has rather mature internet and advertisement markets. Our audience is very big and active. We are going to try to monetise it."

Eyes on Brazil

Twitter isn't the first big web company to identify Brazil, the world's sixth largest economy, as its next big growth market. Facebook has an office there, as do Netflix and Amazon.

Having a presence on the ground in Brazil could be of great use for the social network, considering the eyes of the sporting world will be focused there at various points during the next four years.

Both the 2014 FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Olympic Games will take place in the country.

TechRadar asked Twitter for official word on the news and will update this story if and when a response is forthcoming.