I used to think that people in Southeast Asia are somewhat similar due to common characteristics in geology, ethnic background and economy. But I was totally wrong. Working and a little traveling have given me a chance to take a closer look into what SEA people are doing online which reveal a lot of differences.

Blogging

I once thought that most SEA people were introvert, but it seems to be that this statement can only be applied to the Vietnamese. I was surprised to find out how active people in other SEA countries are on the Internet.

In Vietnam, there are only a small number of “professional” bloggers. Most “hot” bloggers emerged from Yahoo! 360 and became famous because of sensational rag news, sex, short stories, etc. (things that tradional media can’t mention). It’s true that bloggers in Vietnam aren’t paid much attention. Earlier this year I attended PestaBlogger in Indonesia and I was amazed. It attracted about 1000 bloggers of all social groups: young, old (I even met some 50-something bloggers there); male, female (though male bloggers seem to be more prevalent); poor, rich. They blogged about anything: politics and other sensitive topics. Every blogs in Indonesia [Blogger.com ranks 5 and WordPress.com ranks 7 in Alexa Indonesia]!!

Blogging is also very popular in Malaysia [Blogger.com ranks 6 and WordPress.com ranks 15 in Alexa Malaysia].

In Philippines, there is even a bloggers association and the Philippines Blog Awards. [They call themselves a blogging nation].

It’s also true with Youthsays.com. Even though there are only 13 330 members in YouthSays Indonesia, new questions are submitted at the rate of 1 question/min. YouthSays Philippines is also much more active than YouthSays Vietnam.

Web Services

Generally, youths in Southeast Asia favor internationl products against local products. In almost every country in SEA except Vietnam [Thank to Zing.vn and VnExpress.net], 5 first places on Alexa belong to internationl products [the common denominator are Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Windows Live/YouTube]. Although Facebook is now dominant, there are still some other popular SNS and they vary in each country. Thai people show highly favor for Hi5 while the Flippino go Friendster.

Friendster

Unlike in Vietnam, Friendster is a little bit popular in other countries in SEA. As we all know, it just had a brand makeover to target Asian youths, makes it look like just a MySapce-wannabe (according to a friend of mine). The color, logo and tagline are new but the features almost remain the same except they launched “Friendster Virtual Gift Shop” and “Friendster Games” that make it look just like an Asian-born product.

Friendster claimed that it “pioneered social networking, and today is a leading web site throughout Southeast Asia, with over 75 million registered users and over 90 percent of daily traffic coming from the region.”. But from what I observed, Facebook is winning it over.

According to Reuters, there is a rumor that Friendster will be sold off by the end of this year to an Asian Internet company with the value of at least $100M. Our Vinagame might be interested [I'm just joking, but who knows, Vinagame is valued at $500M, they are rich].

In August 2008, it got funded $20M by IDG Ventures. Around that time, they did some pretty noisy marketing campaign in Vietnam but didn’t get any success.

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Some quick facts:

1. Only in Vietnam that people love reading news that much. Of Top 10 websites on Alexa Vietnam, there are 3 newspapers, 1 portal and 1 porn site lol

2. Singapore has the highest Internet penetration rate, 72.4 % population, Brunei ranks 2nd with 55.9% while Burma has the lowest, only 0.2%. Burnese government imposes very very strict censorship upon Internet usage. In Laos, there are only 130,000 (1.9% population) and in Cambodia there are only 74000 (0.5% population).

3. In Singapore, there are only 3,370,000 Internet users but 1,789,840 Facebook users which means more than 50% Internet users there on Facebook. The rate is also super high in Indonesia where there are 30,000,000 Internet but more than 14,000,000 Facebook users. The Indonesian do not only love blogging, they also love facebooking

Tags: facebook, Friendster, malaysia, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, YouthSays

First, I want to thank you all for joining/supporting me and Twitter Community in Vietnam at this Tweetup on Sunday, June 7, 2009.

I must admit that I felt a little bit awkward at first, because none of old Tweetup mates (except Anh Hung, KhanhLNQ, Jishan) came. As Ngon Pham said, I was like lost in an isolate island. I talked to myself: “What is the point of all these things? Why do I have to do that? Where is everybody else?” Yes, I was discouraged. But well, I have to say “Thanks” millions times to people who came join us that day, and billions times for being so active and contributive, for helping me out. We had about 20 people showing up - perfect for a tweetup. The only matter is that it was in Vietnamese, so it wasn’t so convenient for some non-Vietnamese speakers who came late. I’m so sorry about that, and I promise the next Tweetup will be in English as all other tweetups. I’m also sorry to people who couldn’t come because of late update about the venue. To people who didn’t come, please think twice & listen to actual attendees before talking ill about it.  Be thougtful!

By Lawrence Sinclair :)

Who were there?

1. Chris Tran Huu Luat – from Admax Vietnam.

2. Tuan Tran – ???

3. Tran Dang Khoa – ???

4. Le Nguyen Quoc Khanh – i-Pop Vietnam

5. Minh Phan – i-Pop Vietnam

6. Paul Nguyen Hung – VON

7. Tim (Tuan) Duong – i-Pop Vietnam.

8. Thuy Uong – Admax Vietnam

9. Le Nguyen – Focation

10. Do Dang Khoi – Saigonica

11. Anh Hung – TPL

12. Son Jishan – Frexy

13. Lawrence Sinclair – EastAgile

14. Patrick Kennedy – the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh

15. Phuong (Pi) – ….

16. Tung Nguyen – RMIT

17. Le Na – ???

18. Phuong Luu - Saga

19. Huyen Chip (me, of course. I love the number 19 :D)

20. Ho Viet Hai – i360

21. Nguyen Duc Khiem – Mobile review

22. Bui Huu Chuong – …

23. Another guy from EastAgile, sorry, what is your name again?

24. …

My memory is really bad, so please correct me if I’m wrong, and please help me fulfill this list! Thanks a lot!

What was it about?

This tweetup was mostly about:

1. Yahoo! 360’s being shut down and its potential substitutes for Vietnam market: Facebook, WordPress, Yume, Yobanbe, Tamtay, etc.

2. The future of Twitter.

3. The market. Yes the truth is Vietnam market is very small, how can we deal with that?

4. Mobilization.

*** You can see/download full report (English) here, thank to our Minh Phan

*** We have some videos here, thank to KhanhLNQ.

*** Official hashtag for all Ho Chi Minh Tweetup is #hcmctweet

*** For more information/latest updates, please join us on Facebook and Googlegroups, or follow us on Twitter.

Thanks a lot!

Tags: facebook, hcmctweet, tweetup, twitter, Vietnam, VON, Yahoo! 360, Yobanbe, Yume

The first subject of our series, “Internet People” is Thao Dom — one of the few women in Vietnam’s internet industry. However, even at 24, she has achieved more than most of her male counterparts. She is the mastermind behind Sannhac, I-Pro, and the recently launched Baprang. She is also famous for her blog, attracting a lot of readers with her unique style.

(Đọc bản tiếng Việt ở đây)

Ngo Phuong Thao Born in 1985 Graphic Designer of Nhacso.net (FPT) Art Director of Mobileone.com (FPT) Product Manager of Sannhac (VC Corp) Product Manager of I-pro (VC Corp) Product Manager of Baprang (Galaxy Cinema) Hot blogger Marital Status: Single

1. Hi Thao, could you please tell us a little bit about your expriences with the Internet industry?

I’ve been working in the Internet industry since 2004, started with Nhacso. At that time I was so dull-witted, just a Chaiwala in this industry, but I learned a lot. The most important thing I learned was: the Internet is a strong but open media, if you can control it, you can control the world

2. What do you think are your strongest points? And how have they helped you at work? (I guess they are design and community management, right?)

No I don’t think they are design and community management, but ideas and the teamwork skills. Ideas are the initial stage for everything and teamwork skills are to turn these ideas into life. No one can do all things, but if everyone does his/her part well, the product will be perfect. Designs and building community are things what I do well on my own part.

3. How different is the market and working environment today from the past when you first worked with Nhacso?

It’s obvious that when I started with Nhacso, everyone thought that the Internet was a student’s thing and that it couldn’t make money. But now, we have Internet companies with their own particular way of thinking…thinking 2.0.

4. Do you think not being technical is a disvantage for a Project Manager?

I’ve never worked as a Project Manager, only Product Manager or Designer. The term “manager” is actually a mutual term for all specialities, to encourage people to bring into play their best capabilities, to set long-term and short-term goals. Except those tasks (of a manager), I concentrate on my major tasks, which are design, developing ideas, `and connecting with communities.

5. A lot of people were shocked when you and the whole Sannhac team left VCCorp and abandoned your own product in June 2008. Looking back on it, how did you feel? Have you ever regretted your decision? And in your opinion, how different is it between Sannhac today and your Sannhac in the past?

Yeah, a lot of people were shocked and our team was also shocked ourselves. In the past, Sannhac was a good product with its own particular characteristics of ideas, the design, the spirit and even the core team. However, it was a company’s product, it had to follow the long-term orientation of the company & board of directors, and in a specific period of time, this orientation conflicted with the team’s ideas and exertion. Therefore, shocks were unavoidable. But since the day we started, I had told my team that this product would consume a lot of time and money, and we couldn’t do that; we were willing to do it for the community, but the product was the company’s. Everyone in our team understood this, which gradually penetrated us.

Sannhac nowaday: the interface is uglier, the community is big, but unable to classify, the market segment is tangled and diluted. It’s possible to make money out of Sannhac now, but the company still doesn’t have any business model for it. Quality of beats is downgraded. Activities of the community are just purely entertainment without any social benefit, which are boring and commonplace. In conclusion, I really want to come back at this time to rearrange things a little bit.

6. Okay, now we are going to talk about your newest product, Baprang. What is the strongest point of Baprang? How about the current competitors?

Baprang won’t have a big community like Sannhac does, because Baprang targets a smaller market segment of movie lovers. A big community is not always more powerful than a small but active one. Our goal first is to make Baprang an IMDB 2.0 in Vietnamese where people can talk about any film they want, even Vietnamese, Japanese, American or other exotic films. Second, we want to create a relaxing environment for movie lovers so that they can socialize everything related to movies, such as: brainstorming a film’s title, translating a film, inserting subtitles and sound for films, and watching movies together, etc. The movies of our country are already so lamentable, so we need contribution of such a community.

I think that Baprang hasn’t had a commercial target yet, so it hasn’t had any rivals. If you mean rivals that try to scramble for users, it’s kinda unnecessary, because users are absolutely voluntary, not something you scramble for.

7. As I observe, users can now download films from Baprang.com. Do you have to worry about copyright issues?

A famous musician once told me that nowaday no one earns a living by selling copyrighted disks. It’s obvious that new generations of communication and multimedia can generate money much more than the little sum of money disks can bring, not to mention that if illicit disks are too popular, you may earn nothing.

We live in a poor developing country, and always thirst for culture. Like beggars, we have to give them something edible for free before we get them to pay for something. Hmmm, maybe it’s a bit pessimistic, but that’s what’s happening in a developing country like Vietnam. It’s okay, as long as we don’t imitate the US or India (smile).

8. What’s next after Baprang? Do you want to stick with the Internet industry for a long time while its future in Vietnam is still unclear?

Unfortunately, after Baprang, I still want to stick with the Internet. I have lots of plans that haven’t been carried out yet, because I haven’t had enough money (laughs).

9. Well, then comes a personal question: as you work in the Internet industry, hang out with lots of geeky tech guys, what do you think about them? Is it possible that in the future, you will fall for one of them?

Why not. Guys in this Internet industry are normally very smart. However, as they are online too much, sometimes they are not practical enough. Anyway, they are lovely and tasty, and if they have business minds, they can be very wealthy in the future.

10. Okay, the last question, who do you want to be the next interviewee of our series?

Err, Vuong Vu Thang. Yes, exactly him

*** Pictures provided by Thaodom

*** Thanks Rick Rodgers and Patrick Kennedy for helping with the English version.

______________

About the “Internet People” series:

I will interview a person working in the Internet Industry (in Vietnam) every other week, published on Sunday. Please give me feedback about the series and suggest who you want to be the next interviewee. Thanks

Tags: Baprang, I-pro, Internet, Internet People, Nhacso, People, sannhac, Thaodom, VCCorp, Vietnam

Hey calm down, I’m not gonna make another long speech about macro-economics or noble patriotism. Just some thoughts about the future of Vietnamese web services in relationships with Vietnamese users and esp. early adapters.

One week ago, I had a very interesting discussion over this matter with CEO of VON - Paul Nguyen. His arguments agaisnt exotic products are:

- We Vietnamese people have to use Vietnamese products. Exotic comapnies like Google, etc. they don’t even have offices here, so they don’t have to spend so much money in Vietnam, don’t create jobs for Vietnamese but they still get users. In the mean time, Vietnamese companies have to spend millions US dollars, pay all the taxes, creates thousands jobs for Vietnamese, they should get something in return. In some countries like China, they require exotic companies to open offices in China, hire Chinese, pay taxes for Chinese governments in order to do business in China.

- Exotic products don’t necessarily mean they have better technology than Vietnamese products. Like Yahoo! 360’s technology & concept is such a lame that no where else in the world use it, except Vietnam. Yahoo! 360 plus is just a failed product in HongKong, then brought back to Vietnam. He believes Vietnamese products can do much better than that. But exotic companies have big names, and Vietnamese people are very fond of exotic things.

But he still believes in the future of Vietnamese products in general and Vietnamese social network sites in particular, b/c:

- We early adapters might find Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Linkedin, etc. very useful and interesting. But the gap between early adapters and mass users in Vietnam is just too huge, and the number of early adapters are just so small (we have around 70k-80k facebook users compared to 2-3 millions Yahoo! 360’s users) that every service provider knows where their cash flow should go to and come from. Many Yahoo! 360’s users don’t even know how to upload a picture, they just simply hit the button “compose a blog entry” and type and send. Exotic products might be too complicated for them.

- The Vietnamese love color and show their own styles, while exotic products are normally just too simply designed. Just an example among many other differences in anguages and cultures.

He said, early adapters should use and talk more about Vietnamese products. Because if we just support exotic products, we will gradually kill Vietnamese products, let the foreigners take over us.

Several days ago was the inauguration of Nguyen Thanh Nam - the new CEO of FPT - the biggest Vietnamese IT company at the moment. One idea in his speech that drew public opinion’s attention was that he called for FPT people to use FPT’s products, not because of love only but because of trust in the products’s quality and the future of company. That might sound delirious, but is it absolutely impossible? He has his point, ofcourse.

Hm it has made me think a lot. Are we too enthusiastic about Facebook, Google, WordPress, Twitter, etc. and forget about Vietnamese products? Are we early adapters, and if yes, where do we stay if no service providers care about us?

I’m confused, though I obviously have my own explanation, but I want to hear your opinions first. Every idea is welcome. Thanks.

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As you all know, VON’s 3 most noticeable products are Timnhanh - a Viet search engine and Yume - a blog & social networkig site, and Kiemviec - an HR site, of which I’m interested the most in Yume - one of prominent candicates for Yahoo! 360′s substitute together with Tamtay, Yobanbe, YouSecond (Yeah in Vietnam blog means Yahoo! 360 and most people have no idea of what social network is. But well, it’s going to be shut down). According to Paul, Yume is gonna have a risky chance in June, with much more social features learned from Facebook.

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Tags: Early Adapters, facebook, FPT, future, Gooogle, patriotism, Paul Nguyen, Tamtay, Timnhanh, twitter, Vietnam, VON, WordPess, Yahoo! 360, Yobanbe, Yume