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Jakarta. Five months after being bought by Internet giant Yahoo, there is little trace of glamour at Koprol’s offices in a nondescript area of Barito, South Jakarta. Empty boxes are stacked along the narrow stairway, and its 20 employees are cramped into a room about the size of a young bachelor’s one-bedroom apartment.

But things are happening. Since the acquisition in May, social networking site Koprol has doubled its number of employees and is attracting more than 100,000 new accounts every week.

“Koprol is exploding after merging with Yahoo,” Satya Witoelar, the chief creative officer, proudly explained. Koprol allows strangers that happen to be nearby each other to engage in conversations.

Chats that later develop into an actual meet-up are known as “kopdar.” Satya said at least five such meet-ups happen in Indonesia every week.

Although Koprol began as a local service, it has gained recognition in neighboring countries like Singapore and the Philippines, and has even reached as far as South Africa.

Koprol became something of a local star in the wake of the Yahoo acquisition, attracting international attention to Indonesia’s vibrant Web start-up scene.

But despite the high profile, the buyout created no Internet gazillionaires such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, only more opportunity for hard work in developing the site.

Yahoo and Koprol have declined to name the purchase price, but clearly it wasn’t in the life-changing category.

But Wieky Azza Mahfresya, a Koprol developer, seemed pleased enough with a higher salary and “goodie bag,” including a new laptop, provided by Yahoo. Previously, everyone worked on their old, battered laptops.

Fajar Budiprasetyo and Daniel Armanto originally built Koprol under the name SkyEight in 2004, and five years later Satya joined the force.

Their work really paid off when, on May 25, the media spread the news about the Yahoo acquisition. Evolution doesn’t happen overnight though, and Koprol is still developing more features for users.

Koprol’s mobile application is currently available for Blackberry, and is aiming to hit Android and other platforms next year.

Koprol is also planning to add a business page, where business owners could list branches, along with their promotions, for free.

If a fast-food chain like KFC is having an up-size promo, it could use Koprol to spread the news to many locations at once.

By the end of year, Koprol will complete the development stage on the business page.

When Yahoo bought the company in May, it was attracted by Koprol’s services and the potential for growth, especially in Indonesia’s bursting online market.

According to Satya, Yahoo wasn’t the only suitor, but it was the most capable of taking Koprol to a higher level.

And rather than focusing on reaching the break-even point, Yahoo is letting Koprol strengthen its services first, something that local companies are rarely willing to do.

Aryo Kresnadi, Koprol’s business development manager, said the site is taking the opportunity to forge partnerships with telecommunications companies and phone providers.

All of which indicates a bright future for Koprol and its busy, cramped staff.

“I hope we will move to a new place soon,” Wieky said.