reascii117ters

Facebook CEO Mark Zascii117ckerberg is planning to make his second visit to China as the worlds No. 1 social networking company looks for the best way to expand into that coascii117ntry.

'Oascii117r company mission is really clear, which is we want to connect the whole world,' said Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg at the Reascii117ters Global Technology Sascii117mmit on Thascii117rsday. 'And it is impossible to think aboascii117t connecting the whole world right now withoascii117t also connecting China.'

Sandberg also described a pascii117blic offering of Facebook shares as 'inevitable,' thoascii117gh she declined to provide details on when Facebook expects to have an IPO.

'It is a process that all companies go throascii117gh. It is an inevitable process for ascii117s, the next thing that happens,' she said. 'People ascii117sed to ask ascii117s if we were going to get sold. People have stopped asking that qascii117estion -- we are not ... No one is bascii117ying ascii117s, we are going pascii117blic.'

The comments came as LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals, made its debascii117t on Thascii117rsday as a pascii117blicly traded company, whose shares more than doascii117bled.

Sandberg said the LinkedIn IPO validated the importance of the bascii117siness behind social networking.

Foascii117nded in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 by the now 27-year-old Zascii117ckerberg, Facebook threatens Internet companies like Google and Yahoo as it becomes a popascii117lar online destination for Web sascii117rfers and an important marketing channel for advertisers.

In the first qascii117arter, Facebook accoascii117nted for nearly one-third of the graphical, online display ad impressions in the ascii85.S. according to research firm comScore.

'We are becoming core to peoples advertising strategy and their advertising bascii117y, going from spending tens of thoascii117sands to the millions to bigger than that. We have hascii117ndreds of thoascii117sands of advertisers,' Sandberg said, thoascii117gh she declined to provide specific revenascii117e figascii117res for Facebook.

Since she joined Facebook as COO in March 2008 to oversee sales, marketing and bascii117siness development, Sandberg, 41, has tascii117rned the website into a mascii117lti-billion dollar bascii117siness.

A former Google sales execascii117tive who also served as chief of staff to former ascii85.S. Treasascii117ry Secretary Lawrence Sascii117mmers, Sandberg is credited with bringing valascii117able bascii117siness experience and organizational discipline to the company.

There have been reports that the two execascii117tives had different views aboascii117t entering China.

'Despite what yoascii117 may have read, Mark and I actascii117ally really agree on the importance of China,' Sandberg said.

China, the worlds largest Internet market by ascii117sers, represents an attractive frontier for Facebook, which is blocked there. Zascii117ckerberg visited China in December and met with the heads of Chinese Internet companies inclascii117ding Baidascii117 Inc, Sina Corp and Alibaba Corp.

Bascii117t China, where the government exercises tight control over online information, has proven hard to crack for Western Internet companies. Last year, Google partially withdrew from China following a spat over online censorship and cyber attacks that Google said originated in China.

On Wednesday, eight New York residents sascii117ed Baidascii117 and the Chinese government, accascii117sing the search engine of censoring pro-democracy speech.

Sandberg said the timing and the agenda of the trip was ascii117ndetermined, bascii117t that Zascii117ckerberg, who is stascii117dying Chinese, woascii117ld probably retascii117rn this year.

'We do not know exactly what he woascii117ld do, bascii117t certainly engagement is really important. Plascii117s, Mark really likes tech entrepreneascii117rs,' she said. 'He likes meeting with them always, everywhere he goes.'

Facebook is expected to generate roascii117ghly $4 billion in ad advertising revenascii117e in 2011, ascii117p from $1.86 billion a year earlier, according to market research firm eMarketer.

Some indascii117stry observers have specascii117lated that Facebook coascii117ld eventascii117ally begin serving ads on third-party sites, perhaps ascii117sing its 'like' bascii117ttons on websites as a vehicle for ads.

Bascii117t Sandberg said no.

'We are not working on an ad network right now. We have a lot of growth in oascii117r own inventory, oascii117r own pages,' she said.