Comments on: US Vietnamese Social Networks Roundup

By: Phuong Vu

Phuong Vu — Sat, 15 May 2010 07:57:18 +0000

Interesting article for me as I just launched my new site, http://bestofviet.com, for Vietnamese American business reviews! Hopefully in the near future we can have our very own social networking site. But for now FB and Tweeter works very well in bringing us (Vietnamese community) together. I use them for business and kids’ birthday invitation.

Although http://bestofviet.com is not a true social networking site, it is an attempt to bring out the best of Vietnamese businesses in America, through customers reviews and networking.

Yes, a “true” Vietnamese social network will emerge but that will also require lots and lots of work, efforts, passions, talents, time and $$$! However, the above mentioned sites in the article do serve as a starting point.

By: VietCaster

VietCaster — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:57:38 +0000

natpham@vietasiamedia.com

Thank you

By: VietCaster

VietCaster — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:57:17 +0000

Dear James Bao,

My name is Nathalie Pham, my organization has begun a US?Vietnamese Social Network. My research on Vietnamese and Asian social networks tell me that in a global Vietnamese market there is actually 86 million worldwide and 1.64 (2009) in the North American Content. On average there are over 55,000 users a day per popular Vietnamese websites and due to the search indexing of Google and Yahoo many websites are lost in the internet world.

Social Networks focus should be
1. Understand the group they are reaching
2. Encourage "social" activities not just articles to read
3. Understanding that marketing is not just adding a banner ad but understand that value of the data capturing and analytic components.

Prediction : 2050 Asian Buying Power

By: Brian Luong

Brian Luong — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:30:00 +0000

yup. have you read china's response?

By: Huan Tran

Huan Tran — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:51:00 +0000

Has anyone heard secretary Clinton's speech regarding the google situation in China? She called out Vietnam for interference with social networking sites.

By: Thai Dang

Thai Dang — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:08:00 +0000

you forget the most popular one, guess what it is, we already know it, that is Facebook (yes, Facebook!)+ in Vietnam, everyone uses Facebook – http://lite.facebook.com (please note that the web address people use is http://lite.facebook.com and not http://www.facebook.com – because http://www.facebook.com is quite "difficult to access" in Vietnam)+ Zing.vn – http://me.zing.vn – is a failed social network product, people do not use that, they boast a million accounts because they simple convert all the game accounts to Zing Me accounts (yes, people use Zing to play games – a majority of Internet users do play games, and Zing/VinaGame is super popular for gamers – but they just do not use it for social network)+ in Vietnam, there are tens or even hundreds of efforts on-going to build social networks *by Vietnamese* and *for Vietnamese*, but unlike similar efforts by Chinese people for China (which work well there), those efforts in Vietnam do not work – YuMe.vn, Zing Me, cyworld.vn, tamtay.vn, cyvee.com, Yahoo! 360plus (VN), Friendster (VN),… all do not work, the reasons are actually not obvious and people are still figuring out why things are that "strange" – on the other hand, "forums" still work well for Vietnamese (seems like Vietnamese like "forums")+ also in Vietnam is also different with other countries (including Asian ones), while in other countries there can be *multiple* popular networks at the same time (like Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, Twitter,…) – in Vietnam, there is only solution, Facebook – http://lite.facebook.com (just like before, there is only one solution, Yahoo! 360, but it is already gone) => actually, many people are still figuring out why things are "very strange" like that, and still they have not been able to come up with the answer yet… => the only way which can make Vietnamese people go out of Facebook and join "your" social network is when Facebook is *totally blocked* (like in China), and I'm sure we all do not want that happen…+ I'm not sure about Vietnamese Americans, but I believe that, especially for young people, the social network they *use* is still Facebook and not the ones above (the word "use" means they actively participate, not just having the accont)+ and for professional purposes, I'm sure the one people use will definitely be LinkedIn…=> after all, you must focus on what the *users* want…yes, it's always "proud" to have a social network that is "by Vietnamese, of Vietnamese, for Vietnamese" but after all, how to "compete" with Facebook and LinkedIn, and should we "compete" with Facebook and LinkedIn at all?[all above is just my "2 cent" opinion - with disclaimer of liability]

By: Bao Thien Ngo

Bao Thien Ngo — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:46:00 +0000

Don't know if http://www.coolviet.com counts. There are a lot of English-speaking Vietnamese on there.