China is not having Facebook's efforts to get social

Mark Zuckerberg has been lobbying since 2009 to get China to allow his social networking service back into the country, but it's probably not going anywhere, per the WSJ.

The bottom line: Efforts to soften China — such as hiring Chinese employees, using tech that's acceptable to the ruling Communist Party and learning Mandarin — aren't breaking down the barriers. Meanwhile social media brands in China, such as Weibo and Tencent Holding's WeChat and QQ, are already dominating the scene.

Why the Chinese blockage matters: There are 700 million internet users in China, making it an enormous potential growth area. The growth prospects in the U.S. are slowing as the company's ad revenues are possibly peaking: it boasted an 84% share of industry ad revenues in the third quarter of last year, per a WSJ report.

What to watch: Facebook will announce its earnings this Wednesday. Look for signs of growth with its Messenger app, Oculus VR headset, WhatsApp, or Instagram — since China isn't on its list of growth markets (at least for now).