Facebook recruiting rumor triggers discussion

BEIJING - An online post rumoring a possible Chinese campus recruiting drive by Facebook has intrigued the country's netizens, despite the fact that university officials have denied hearing anything from the company about the move.

Ruan Chao, a Chinese woman who works for Facebook as a software engineer, posted a message about a possible campus recruitment drive on a school message board belonging to Nanjing University.

Ruan said the company may launch campus recruitment programs in August 2012, targeting students at Tsinghua University, Shanghai Communications University, Nanjing University, Zhejiang University and Fudan University

Ruan's post was forwarded on Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging site, triggering rampant speculation and garnering thousands of views and reposts. However, representatives from several Chinese universities have claimed that Facebook has not officially contacted them regarding the recruitment drive.

Xu Chen, an officer from the employment service center of Nanjing University, said the information about the drive came from one of their alumni and was intended to be shared among the school's students.

He said it is too early for the company to contact the school if the company wishes to hire next year's graduates.