Amongst its many existing users, companies and government entities are increasingly turning to the platform.
At a conference in Quang Ninh last week about how administrations and businesses can use Facebook, Noudhy Valdryno, a representative from Facebook’s Asia-Pacific Division, revealed that Vietnam has some of the highest user numbers of any country in Southeast Asia. Of 242 million daily users in the region, Vietnam accounts for more than 17% with some 42 million users daily.
In addition to people sharing details of their lives, news stories and cat memes, Facebook is helping institutions connect and respond to the public. Chairman of the Quang Ninh People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long, for example, attributes his province's fourth-place ranking in the country's ITC index in part to its Facebook page. It has attracted 5,500 followers since its establishment last year and serves as an important way to open dialogue between businesses, the public and the government.
The conference gave suggestions for how to most effectively create engaging pages and what type of content most appeals to users. Amongst the advice, speakers noted that video tends to do better than other forms of information.
Not everyone sees Facebook positively, however. A recent high-profile leak of users' personal data has given people to doubt the security of their online information. Facebook has also been criticized for the way that it allows vendors to circumvent paying taxes.
The Vietnamese government recently gave the mega-corporation one year to comply with the recently passed cyber-security law that goes into effect on January 1 next year. The new legislation requires that Facebook store at least 36 months of local users’ data in the country and outlaws use of the platform for actions deemed damaging to the country.
