Vietnamese social networks have been developing rapidly with many established networks. However, the number of networks that can cement their firm positions in the markets just can be counted on one’s fingers.
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Vietnamese social networks have been developing rapidly with many established networks. However, the number of networks that can cement their firm positions in the markets just can be counted on one’s fingers.
Social network is compared as a “sweat cake” but it is not eatable to everyone. Believing in the great potentials of social networks, a lot of investors have poured money into the field, but they still have not reaped the fruit of their labor.
Where do Vietnamese social networks stay?
The first social network in the world, Friendster, made debut in the US in 2002. Just three years later, the first social networks took shape in Vietnam. At that time, the social networks, such as Tamtay, Yobanbe, Clipvn, Sannhac, Anhso.net, CyVee…, just provided simple information under the forms of blogs or pictures. The networks just served certain targeted users.
In 2009, Vietnamese users witnessed the establishment of Zing Me, the one developed by VNG which is highly interactive and real-time information updated. After that, Go.vn by VTC was set up. The two social networks have been favored by the youth which have been developing rapidly. Zing Me now has 6.8 million members, while Go.vn has 2 million.
According to ComScore, the top 10 social networks which most attract Vietnamese users are Zing Me, Facebook, Yahoo! Pulse, Tamtay.vn, banbe.net, KST.vn, Yeulaptop.com, Cyworld, Yo88.com and Twitter.com.
Statistics show that 87.5 percent of the current 30 Internet users in Vietnam have been using social networks. 44.6 percent are using Zing Me, 14.1 percent Go.vn. The majority of social networks’ members are young people aged between 15 and 31 (71 percent).
Commenting about the development of social networks in Vietnam, Joe Nguyen, Deputy President of ComScore South East Asia, said that Vietnamese social networks have been developing more slowly than the number of Internet users and more slowly than that in other regional countries.
Foreign social networks such as Facebook or Twitter have been favored by a lot of Vietnamese people with the increasingly high domestic users, even though they still cannot obtain the dominance on the Internet content market.
Mr Nguyen has pointed out that Vietnamese social networks will have to enter a stiff competition with foreign networks when the Internet infrastructure in Vietnam gets improved, and users do not meet difficulties in accessing the websites with foreign IPs.
Explaining why Vietnamese Internet users still prefer foreign social networks, he said that the networks have the large coverage with no national limitations. In India, for example, Friendster is being favored, because this can help connect the Indian community all over the world. Indian people can connect their relatives who are living in the US, the country where many people are using Friendster.
Joining forces to develop
Also according to Mr Joe Nguyen, in order to survive and develop, social networks need to have good content. And in order to have good content, the owners of social networks need to create a community where people join forces to build up and develop the networks.
Vuong Quang Khai, Deputy General Director of VNG, said that it is now the time for social networks to develop in a more open manner, and that it is necessary to have the interactive contribution among the networks’ owners, individuals and institutions to create an open community with more features and interactive contents.
As for online advertisers or app developers, this proves to be the cheapest way to access the millions of Internet users. Meanwhile, as for social network service providers, this is the quickest way to develop the content. Therefore, building social networks on an open basis would bring the development opportunities for both the parties.
Sharing the same view, Phan Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of VTC Online, the developer of Go.vn, also thinks that in the long term, social networks would develop on all TV devices, Internet and mobile devices. Therefore, Go.vn would need big sources of content with the necessary apps for all the three kinds of terminal devices.
“Network service providers cannot stay alone, but they need to cooperate with other partners to develop. Joining forces to develop and sharing profits proves to be the right way of development,” Tuan said.
Khai said that social apps are the channel which brings the highest revenue to Zing Me. In 2009, Zing Me had 10 apps and could not earn money from the apps, while in 2010, the number of apps rose to 20, while the revenue was 30 billion dong.
(Source: TBKTSG)
Social network is compared as a “sweat cake” but it is not eatable to everyone. Believing in the great potentials of social networks, a lot of investors have poured money into the field, but they still have not reaped the fruit of their labor.
Where do Vietnamese social networks stay?
The first social network in the world, Friendster, made debut in the US in 2002. Just three years later, the first social networks took shape in Vietnam. At that time, the social networks, such as Tamtay, Yobanbe, Clipvn, Sannhac, Anhso.net, CyVee…, just provided simple information under the forms of blogs or pictures. The networks just served certain targeted users.
In 2009, Vietnamese users witnessed the establishment of Zing Me, the one developed by VNG which is highly interactive and real-time information updated. After that, Go.vn by VTC was set up. The two social networks have been favored by the youth which have been developing rapidly. Zing Me now has 6.8 million members, while Go.vn has 2 million.
According to ComScore, the top 10 social networks which most attract Vietnamese users are Zing Me, Facebook, Yahoo! Pulse, Tamtay.vn, banbe.net, KST.vn, Yeulaptop.com, Cyworld, Yo88.com and Twitter.com.
Statistics show that 87.5 percent of the current 30 Internet users in Vietnam have been using social networks. 44.6 percent are using Zing Me, 14.1 percent Go.vn. The majority of social networks’ members are young people aged between 15 and 31 (71 percent).
Commenting about the development of social networks in Vietnam, Joe Nguyen, Deputy President of ComScore South East Asia, said that Vietnamese social networks have been developing more slowly than the number of Internet users and more slowly than that in other regional countries.
Foreign social networks such as Facebook or Twitter have been favored by a lot of Vietnamese people with the increasingly high domestic users, even though they still cannot obtain the dominance on the Internet content market.
Mr Nguyen has pointed out that Vietnamese social networks will have to enter a stiff competition with foreign networks when the Internet infrastructure in Vietnam gets improved, and users do not meet difficulties in accessing the websites with foreign IPs.
Explaining why Vietnamese Internet users still prefer foreign social networks, he said that the networks have the large coverage with no national limitations. In India, for example, Friendster is being favored, because this can help connect the Indian community all over the world. Indian people can connect their relatives who are living in the US, the country where many people are using Friendster.
Joining forces to develop
Also according to Mr Joe Nguyen, in order to survive and develop, social networks need to have good content. And in order to have good content, the owners of social networks need to create a community where people join forces to build up and develop the networks.
Vuong Quang Khai, Deputy General Director of VNG, said that it is now the time for social networks to develop in a more open manner, and that it is necessary to have the interactive contribution among the networks’ owners, individuals and institutions to create an open community with more features and interactive contents.
As for online advertisers or app developers, this proves to be the cheapest way to access the millions of Internet users. Meanwhile, as for social network service providers, this is the quickest way to develop the content. Therefore, building social networks on an open basis would bring the development opportunities for both the parties.
Sharing the same view, Phan Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of VTC Online, the developer of Go.vn, also thinks that in the long term, social networks would develop on all TV devices, Internet and mobile devices. Therefore, Go.vn would need big sources of content with the necessary apps for all the three kinds of terminal devices.
“Network service providers cannot stay alone, but they need to cooperate with other partners to develop. Joining forces to develop and sharing profits proves to be the right way of development,” Tuan said.
Khai said that social apps are the channel which brings the highest revenue to Zing Me. In 2009, Zing Me had 10 apps and could not earn money from the apps, while in 2010, the number of apps rose to 20, while the revenue was 30 billion dong.
(Source: TBKTSG)
