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While Multiply may not have any blockbuster films devoted to it, the world’s second-largest social network expects to make a big impact on one of the world’s most Internet-friendly markets.

Multiply, a US-based company, plans to set up a subsidiary in Indonesia and eventually make it its largest operational base, co-founder and chief executive Peter D. Pezaris said.

“We are committed to making Indonesia our anchor property. By next year, Indonesia will be our biggest office, even bigger than the one in the US,” he said during a visit to Jakarta on Friday.

The Jakarta office will be Multiply’s third after the US and the Philippines. It is set to open in March with about 35 employees.

Multiply, which launched in August 2004, started as a social networking site for families and friends. Once users began utilizing the site to sell their products online, though, it decided to expand its functions to e-commerce, which is reflected in its current tagline, “Shopping meets social.”

Users were initially prevented from selling through Multiply, Pezaris said, before the restriction was lifted last year.

Indonesians are among the world’s most avid users of social networking sites. Some 31 million of the country’s 237 million people use the Internet, a figure expected to increase to 94 million by 2015, according to a report released in September by the Boston Consulting Group. They also account for the second-largest population on Facebook, second only to the US, and the third-largest on Twitter.

Pezaris said his company decided to settle in Indonesia because of its Internet penetration and rapidly growing economy.

“There is a lot of excitement about Indonesia around the world, and this year will be an inflection point for e-commerce in Indonesia,” he said.

One-third of Multiply’s five million monthly unique visitors in this country use the site for trading, he continued. Its user base and 25,000 stores doing business on the site make Indonesia Multiply’s biggest traffic source, with its total user base at over 20 million and 125,000 stores. 

After a six-month search for the right person to handle its business here, Multiply named Daniel Tumiwa as its country manager. “In order to maximize our growth, we needed to choose the best expert in this field. Daniel had experience in working with Djarum, Universal Music and 7 Langit,” Pezaris said. 

Daniel said Multipy was committed to the country. “Multiply wants to be very Indonesian here and support Multiply users that like to do trading through the site.”

Danny Oei Wirianto, marketing chief of Darta Media Indonesia, which owns Indonesia’s largest online forum, Kaskus, said on Sunday that Multiply’s success will depend on its marketing strategy. Its marketplace will complement Kaskus, he said, as many Kaskus users post Multiply links in the forum to expand access to the market.