The number of Facebook users in Vietnam has grown 200% in 12 months to reach more than 8.5 million people, meaning Facebook could have already overtaken local social network Zing to become number 1 in Vietnam.
HANOI – WeAreSocial, a Singapore-based digital, PR organization released a report on 17 October in which it analyzed digital trends in Vietnam which it calls “one of Asia’s most exciting markets”.
Accordingly, Vietnam’s social, digital and mobile landscape is evolving at an astonishing rate, with internet users in the country increasing by 5% since WeAreSocial’s last report at the end of 2011.
Out of a population of over 90 million, Vietnam has:
- Almost 31 million internet users, equivalent to 34% of the population? This is higher than the global average of 33%. Growth in Internet users in Vietnam in 2012 is 5%;
- A massive 129 million mobile subscriptions, representing a penetration rate of 139%;
- 19 million mobile internet users, equating to a penetration rate of around 21%;
- 95% of Vietnamese people aged 15-24 have access to the Internet;
- 73% of Vietnam’s Internet users are under 35;
- 66% of Vietnamese netizens use the web everyday;
As the figures above suggest, feature phones still dominate Vietnam’s mobile landscape, but smartphone’s use is definitely on the rise.
According to TUOITRENEWS, the organization also noted a reduction in the number of mobile subscriptions since its last report, but given that subscription penetration still sits at around 139%, this likely reflects a consolidation towards a single active subscription per user rather than a drop in mobile use.
Vietnamese netizens spend an average of 29 hours on the Internet each month; 88% go online from home, as opposed to 36% who go online from webcafes; 95% of Vietnam’s Internet users visit online news sites; 86% visit social networking sites;
28% of Vietnamese netizens have a Facebook account while 27% have a Zing account; a new user from Vietnam joins Facebook every 3 seconds; 24% of Vietnam’s netizens have a YouTube account;
The most dramatic change in the country’s digital landscape this year has been the shift in power in social media. Just 12 months ago, there were only 2.9 million Facebook users in Vietnam; today, there are more than 8.5 million – a growth of almost 200%. Data from Facebook itself suggests that the network’s user base in the country has grown by 500,000 in the past 2 weeks alone.
Up until last week, the leader in the country’s social media scene was local network Zing, which claims around 8.2 million users. Although these latest official user numbers for Zing are a few months old and actual users may have increased since, it appears that Facebook has taken the number 1 spot in Vietnam.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
