Vietnam wants to develop a social network for Vietnamese

Like many people belonging to the 5X generation, Phan Thi Ngoc Anh in HCM City had never used social network and internet until two months ago. But she changed her mind and decided to set up her ‘house’ on Facebook.

Anh said she has no other choice than using Facebook, because this is the only convenient way to connect her friends and relatives who all ‘gather’ on Facebook, which is very popular among Vietnamese.

The suggestion by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc about a social media for Vietnamese is described as ‘daring’. In general, the governments of developing countries do not encourage their startups to compete with foreign social networks such as Facebook, because it would be ineffective and very costly.

The newly appointed Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Manh Hung also said Vietnam needs a digital ecosystem with focus on made-in-Vietnam social media instead of foreign owned players such as Facebook and Google.

In principle, Vietnam can easily develop social networks for Vietnamese by prohibiting Facebook and other foreign social networks. In China, for example, as the door has been closed to Facebook since 2009, opportunities have been opened for domestic social networks, including WeChat, with 900 million users daily.

Tran Anh Dung, CEO of MOG Vietnam, said if Facebook is prohibited in Vietnam, users will have to use Vietnamese social networks. 

However, as Facebook connects globally, doing business between Vietnam and the world would meet difficulties. Being one of Facebook’s top 10 markets, Vietnam will not have power to negotiate with Facebook and Google without Vietnam’s digital ecosystem and social networks.

Experts said Vietnam is not likely to install barriers to protect domestic firms. The path startups have to create ‘Vietnamese social networks for Vietnamese’ will be thorny.

Vietnam once had social networks in 2010-2012, when Facebook still was not a big influence. However, the made-in-Vietnam social networks, go.vn, tamtay.vn and Yobanbe, have shut down.

According to Han Huu Hai, president of YourTV Group, said it was difficult at that moment to ask for an operation license.

Second, the business model was not clearly defined. The model of offering free services to obtain more than 100,000 users and earning money by selling ads was difficult to implement. 

“The financial burden then forced Vietnamese social networks to give up,” Hai said.

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