2. Background
• Viet Nam is one of top growing Asian
countries
• Population: 91 million (Index Mundi, 2012)
• Median age: 28.2 years (Index Mundi, 2012)
• GNI per capita: $2,760 (Internet World Stats,
2012)
• Political: Communist Party
http://data.un.org/_Images/Maps/Viet_Nam.gif
• Doi Moi strategy in 1986
• Internet access in 1997
3. Digital Landscape
• Internet usage increase from
0.3% to 34% in 12 years (Internet
World Stats, 2012)
• Staggering Internet growth of
over 12,000% (Burson-Marsteller, 2011)
• Internet users are
predominantly young adults
(Cimigo Vietnam, 2011)
https://wiki.smu.edu.sg/w/digitalmediaasia/images/thumb/1/1e/Internet_demographics1.png/800px-
Internet_demographics1.png
4. Digital Landscape cont’d
• 85% used Internet at least several
times a week (Cimigo Vietnam, 2011)
• 23.2 hours per month on the
Internet (Asia Digital Marketing Association, 2011)
https://wiki.smu.edu.sg/w/digitalmediaasia/images/thumb/9/9b/Internet_usage_and_frequenc
y.png/800px-Internet_usage_and_frequency.png
Top Internet Access Points (Cimigo Vietnam, 2011)
Home Work Mobile Cyber café
(78%) (31%) (27%) (26%)
5. Digital Landscape cont’d
Top 10 Internet Activities (Cimigo Vietnam, 2011)
Activity % of Users
News 94
Search 92
Listening to music 78
Research 72
Chatting 70
Email 66
Downloading music 61
Watching movies 47
Visiting forums 46
Shopping/Auctions 42
6. Social Media Landscape
• Social media is still in its experimental phase in Viet Nam
https://wiki.smu.edu.sg/w/digitalmediaasia/images/thumb/c/c4/Ogilvy360_vietnam.jpg/791px-Ogilvy360_vietnam.jpg
7. Social Media Landscape cont’d
• The majority of Vietnamese enjoy being a spectator rather
than a creator online (Cimigo Vietnam, 2011)
• Females engaged in more blog-related activities while males
engaged in more forum-related activities
https://wiki.smu.edu.sg/w/digitalmediaasia/images/thumb/b/b7/Blogging_and_social_network_frequency.png/800px-
Blogging_and_social_network_frequency.png
8. Social Media Landscape cont’d
Blogs Microblogging Forums
• 31% visit blogs while • Still new to Viet Nam • Oldest Vietnamese
20% blogs (Cimigo • Some presence on social community
Vietnam, 2011) (Singapore Management
Twitter University, 2011)
• Popular blogging
• Twitter “clones” in • Popular forums:
sites: Facebook,
Viet Nam (e.g., YeuAmNhac.com,
Zing.vn; Blog360.vn
linkhay.com, DienAnh.net,
mimo.vn) WebTreTho.com;
DDTH.com
http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/images/blogging%20image.jpg, http://www.danpontefract.com/images/mb-wordle.jpg,
http://cdn.techsling.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/web-forum.jpg
9. Social Media Landscape cont’d
Instant Messaging Video Sharing Search & News
• 72% engaged in • Top 3 websites: • Google most popular
Instant Messaging YouTube, Clip.vn, and search engine (Cimigo
(Asia Digital Marketing Dailymotion (Asia Digital Vietnam, 2011)
Association, 2011)
Marketing Association, 2011) • Vnexpress.net most
• Yahoo! Messenger popular news site
most popular
http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/msg/site/9/scr/pico_index_us_1.jpg, http://1cat.biz/images/video-sharing.jpg, http://i1-scripts.softpedia-
static.com/screenshots/News-Search-Engine-Script-23901.png
10. Social Networking
• Social Networking
• 2009-2010: 35% of social
networks growth (comScore,
2011)
• 73% growth in sharing
photos on social networks
• Social networking users are
typically < than 30 years old
(Yahoo! - TNS Net Index, 2010)
11. Top 3 Social Networking Sites
ZingMe Go.vn Facebook
• A social networking • Promoted by the Viet • Banned in Viet Nam
division of Zing.vn Nam Ministry of after 2009
• Perceived Audience: Education for the • Perceived Audience:
13-24 years old English Olympic young students18-34
• 5 million users Contest years old
(Singapore Management • Perceived Audience: • 2.6 million users (Ngan,
University, 2011)
young students 2011)
• 3 million users (Minh,
2010)
12. Zing.vn
• Diverse online entertainment
• Debut in 2008
• Own by VNG Corporation
• Services: gaming, instant http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/vi/5/5e/Zing_official_logo.png
messaging, social
networking, online payment,
online videos, music
blogging, etc.
• Few sign-up restrictions
13. Zing News
• Most popular section
• 13 major news categories
(e.g., Daily Living, College
Students, Sports,
Entertainment, Beauty, Blog)
• More comprehensive in
covering news than
traditional media
• Directly connected to
popular social networking
sites (e.g., Facebook)
14. Zing MP3
• Free online music
• Features V-Pop, K-Pop, and
music in the U.S. and Latin
America
• Frequently visited by teens
• Vietnamese musicians and
singers use it to gauge the
popularity of their
songs/abulms
15. Zing TV
• Recently added
• Similar concept to NetFlix
and YouTube
• Can watch popular movies,
drama series, concerts,
sporting events, and other
television shows online
• Not available outside of Viet
Nam
16. ZingMe
• Social networking
component of Zing.vn
• Similar to Facebook (e.g.,
update status, change
the profile cover photo,
instant messaging, play
games)
• Has an active photo-
sharing community
17. Final Points
• Zing.vn has limited commercial use
• Some businesses use Zing.vn to
advertise
• Musicians/singers use ZingMe and
Zing MP3 to promote themselves
• Social media is still growing in Viet
Nam
• Privacy and security remains a big
issue in Viet Nam social media world
19. References
Asia Digital Marketing Association (2011). Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Yearbook 2011. Retrieved from
http://www.asiadigitalmarketingyearbook.com
Burson-Marsteller (2011). Asia Pacific Internet User Growth. Retrieved from http://www.techinasia.com/burson-marsteller-
infographic/#infographic
Chip, H. (2011). Vietnam: State of Social Media One Year After Facebook Block. Retrieved from http://elitestv.com/pub/2011/01/vietnam-
state-of-social-media-one-year-after-facebook-block
Cimigo Vietnam (2011). Vietnam Research. Retrieved from http://cimigo.vn/en-US/Reports/Others/Common.aspx
comScore (2011). The State of Social Networks in Vietnam. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/zingopen/the-state-of-social-media-
in-vietnam-9050823
Hoang, D. (2012). Vietnam to Target Social Media. Retrieved from http://thediplomat.com/asean-beat/2012/04/25/vietnam-to-target-
social-media/
Index Mundi (2012). Vietnam Demographics Profile 2012. Retrieved from
http://www.indexmundi.com/vietnam/demographics_profile.html
Internet World Stats (2012). Vietnam: Internet Usage Stats and Marketing Report. Retrieved
from http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/vn.htm
Minh, H. (2010). Go.vn chạm ngưỡng 3 triệu thành viên. Retried from http://ictnews.vn/home/Internet/77/Govn-cham-nguong-3-trieu-
thanh-vien/70103/index.ict
20. References cont’d
Ngan, T. (2011). Facebook No More Favorite Social Network to Vietnamese People. Retrieved from
http://www.apecdoc.org/post/14/9493
Singapore Management University (2011). Digital Media in Vietnam. Retrieved from
https://wiki.smu.edu.sg/digitalmediaasia/Digital_Media_in_Vietnam#cite_note-64
TNS Global (2011). TNS Digital Life. Retrieved from http://2010.tnsdigitallife.com/
Yahoo! - TNS Net Index (2010). Yahoo! S.E Asia Releases Study on Internet Trends and Media Consumption. Retrieved from
http://ycorpblog.com/2010/06/09/yahoo-netindex/
Yap, J. (2012). Zing’s 5-year dominance in Vietnam. Retrieved from http://e27.sg/2012/09/10/zings-5-year-dominance-in-vietnam/
Editor's Notes
Overview: background, digital media landscape, social media, Zing.vn, final comments
Viet Nam is changing at a rapid paceimage of a broken, devastated Viet Nam after war NO longerPopulation, age, Gross National Income per capitaShaped like an elongated S (surface area of 128,000 square miles)--roughly the size of Italy or New MexicoDoiMoi:the free market economic reformation & Internet access changed the economy & digital landscape for the better
Before social media landscape, it is important to understand about the digital landscapeFrom 2000-2012, Internet usage show over 33% increase!the fastest growing Internet country—staggering growth of 12,00% follow by China (1767%) and India (1520%)71% Internet users are below 34yrs
Additionally…85% used Internet at least several times a weekOn average, Vietnamese spent 23.2 hours per month on the Internet
In general, online activities can be grouped into 5 categories:Information Gathering, Online Entertainment, Online Communication, Blogging and Social Networks, & Online BusinessTop activity: News
The social media landscape in Viet Nam is still expanding (plenty of room to grow)Due to late start in Internet usage compared to U.S. and JapanThere exists a sizable population (mainly teens and college students) who actively engaged in social mediaThese young Vietnamese frequently used popular international social networking sites (e.g., Facebook & Twitter) as well as local sites (e.g., Zing.vn, Go.vn)The wheel of social media landscape in VNZing.vn: Music, forums, Social Networking
In general, the majority ofVietnamese enjoy being a spectator rather than a creator (i.e., passive over active) in terms of blogging and posting on forums- Blog-related activities (e.g., reading and blogging) are popular among Females whereas forum-related activities are more popular among MalesNEXT, I will talk about Social media activities: Blogs, microblogging, forums, instant messaging, video sharing, search & news, & social networking
Blogs: 31% of Internet users reported to visit blogs while 20% have their own blogs A 7% decrease in the number of people blogging from 2007—possibly due to government’s strict enforcement on politically-theme blogsThe most popular blogging site until 2009 is Yahoo! 360°.By 2010, the top 3 sites used for blogging include: Facebook (35%), Zing.vn (7%), and Blog360.vn (4%)Microblogging: Still a new concept to many VietnameseCurrently, no available statistics on microblogging, but there are reports of some popular Vietnamese account on Twitter (e.g., @TwitVietnam).Some Twitter “clones” have been released (e.g., PingGadget.com, linkhay.com, mimo.vn, and me.ola.vn).Forums: The oldest Vietnamese social community on the Internet—dating back as early as in the 1990s The top current popular forums: YeuAmNhac.com (music focus targeting young adults)DienAnh.net (movies focus targeting young adults)WebTreTho.com (household focus targeting women and mothers)DDTH.com (technology focus targeting students and tech-savy individuals)
Instant Messaging: One of the most popular chatting platforms in Viet Nam with 72% of online users engaged in Instant Messaging, which is above the global average of 35% Yahoo! Messenger is currently the most popular Instant Messaging service with 17 million users in Viet Nam.Video Sharing: The top three websites for viewing online videos and video-sharing are YouTube, Clip.vn (a localized version of YouTube), and DailymotionSearch & News: Google is the most popular search engine and VNexpress.net is the most popular site on search engines for reading local news
From 2009 to 2010, Viet Nam showed 35% of social networks growth. Additionally, Viet Nam has the highest growth (73%) in the world in terms of sharing photos on social networks. Despite having the highest social network growth in just a year, social networks involvement in Viet Nam is still relatively low (66%) in comparison with the other Asian countries and the rest of the worldIndividuals in Viet Nam who actively participated in the social networking activities primary consist of the younger generation (younger than 30 years old) The two primary methods in which Vietnamese accessed social networking sites include computers (48%) and mobile (33%)
As of 2011, the top three reported social networking platforms ZingMe: A social networking component of Zing.vn targeting the younger generation (less than 30 years old). As of February 2011, it reported to have 5 million usersGo.vn: It has approximately 3 million registered users since 2011 (Minh, 2010), and it is primarily used by students for the English Olympic Contest which is heavily promoted by the Viet Nam Ministry of EducationFacebook: Reported to have 2.6 million Vietnamese users.After 2009, there has been a decline in users of Facebook due to the Facebook block that was issued by the Vietnamese government.Would use Zing.vn as a college student—more popular than Twitter, LinkedIn, and Wordpress, has important features that Facebook offers (e.g., photo sharing, updating statuses), local presence, same demographics (Vietnamese college students)
Zing.vn is a diverse online entertainment website under the operation of VNG Corporation (formerly known as Vinagame). Zing.vn made its debut in 2008, and has since hold a five-year dominance as a leading entertainment portal in Viet NamIn addition to providing social network service Zing.vn also provides other services such as gaming, instant messaging, online payment, music, online videos, and blogging. Although Zing.vn is mainly targeting individuals living in Viet Nam, it is not an invitation-based website and there are very few restrictions for becoming a user. Anyone who lives outside of Viet Nam can sign-up for an account (provided that s/he can read Vietnamese). In addition, the site allows kids as young as seven year old to sign up for an account as well without parental consent. The sign-up process for Zing.vn is relatively straight-forward and usually takes less than two minutes. It is important to note that even though most online users can registered an online account on Zing.vn, the site reserves some special privileges for people living in Viet Nam. Specifically, only users in Viet Nam has the opportunity to upgrade to an official account in which they can enjoy various benefits such as being invited to join Zing.vn sponsored events, 100 GB of online storage, the ability to use Zing.vn reading online feature, and one-month Zing Mp3 VIP pass.
The entire Zing.vn website can be divided into four major divisions: Zing News, Zing MP3, Zing TV, and ZingMeArguably, the most popular section on Zing.vn since the majority of online Vietnamese users love to read news. Zing News mostly features headline news in Viet Nam with some international news mixed in the site. Overall, there are 13 major news categories that can be found on Zing News: In sum, Zing News is a lot more comprehensive in covering a variety of news than traditional media (e.g., newspapers) in Viet Nam. Thus, more and more Vietnamese are turning to sites such as Zing.vn and VNexpress.net to obtain their daily news rather than relying on televisions, newspapers, or magazines. Not to mention each news article on Zing News is directly connected to popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Google+ so users can easily share the article they just read with their friends and family on other social networking sites outside of Zing.vn.
Within each music/album page users have the option to “Like” a music/album page, post a comment on that particular music/album page, set a song as a ringtone on one cellphone (for users in Viet Nam), send a song to a friend, share a song on one’s Facebook, Google+, or ZingMe, or add a song to one’s personal playlist
A new section that has recently been added to Zing.vn. The concept of this section is similar to NetFlix and YouTube, in which it allows users to stream and watch popular movies, drama series, concerts, sporting events, and other television shows online. Currently, this section can only be accessed by people living in Viet Nam.
Different from Facebook: photo-sharing communityUI similar to Pinterest--allows users to upload different photos on the board, “Like” photos posted on the board, comment on the photos, and share the posted photos on other popular networking sites (e.g., Twitter and Facebook)In total there are 13 categories that any photos can be grouped under (e.g., Buy and Sell, Events, Celebrities, Fashion, Nature, Travel and Daily Living, Wedding)Has some strict requirements for users who want to participate in the photo-sharing communitycan only select one of the 13 categories to participate in, and share photos must be high-quality and shouldn’t be smaller than 720 pixels.Small businesses like to use it to display/advertise their products
Zing.vn has limited commercial use in comparison w/ FacebookSocial media is still growing in Viet Nam. it can be a daunting task for marketers to figure out the appropriate social media channel that they need to be engagedCurrently, social media usage in Viet Nam is heavily monitored by the communist government, and individuals are not free to use any social media tools to their full extent for fear of government persecutionUntil the Vietnamese government prepares to address this issue openly and honestly, social media cannot fully grow in Viet Nam and truly live up to its name of being the “democratization of information” (Solis, 2010).
