Facebook targets China and Russia

Facebook is looking to China, Russia and Japan for its next phase of expansion as its overall growth has begun to taper.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of the world's largest social network, said that with almost 500m members, Facebook was finding it impossible to maintain its breakneck growth. He told an audience of marketers at the Cannes Lions advertising festival on Wednesday that after relying largely on organic growth, Facebook would soon begin to make its first strategic local moves. "We are down to four countries that we are not the leading social network in," he said, naming Japan, Russia, China and South Korea. "Now for the first time we are focused on doing some specific things in specific countries."