Vietnam boasts 30.8 million internet users

WeAreSocial, a Singapore-based digital PR organization, announced in its latest report that Vietnam now has 30.8 million internet users.The number of Facebook users in Vietnam, which WeAreSocial describes as “one of Asia’s most exciting markets”, has grown 200 percent in 12 months to reach more than 8.5 million, meaning Facebook may already have overtaken local social network Zing to become number one in Vietnam. Vietnam’s social, digital and mobile landscape is evolving at an astonishing rate, with internet users in the country increasing by 5 percent 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, accounting for 34 percent of the potential market; a massive 129 million mobile subscribers, representing market penetration of 139 percent; and 19 million mobile internet users, which equals around 21 percent of the market.As these figures suggest, feature phones still dominate Vietnam’s mobile landscape, but smartphone use is definitely on the rise.The organization also noted a reduction in the number of mobile subscriptions since its last report, but given that subscriptions are still around 139 percent, this most likely reflects a trend towards consolidating subscriptions to one per user rather than a drop in mobile phone use.WeAreSocial also presented the other statistics listed below:Vietnam currently has 30,858,742 Internet users.Internet penetration is around 34 percent, higher than the global average of 33 percent.The number of internet users in Vietnam increased 5 percent in 2012.95 percent of Vietnamese people aged 15-24 have access to the internet.73 percent of Vietnam’s Internet users are under the age of 35.66 percent of Vietnamese netizens access the web every day.Vietnamese netizens spend an average of 29 hours on the internet each month.88 percent go online from home, while 36 percent go online at webcafes.95 percent of Vietnam’s internet users visit online news sites.86 percent of Vietnamese internet users visit social networking sites.19 percent of Vietnamese netizens use social networks every day.28 percent of Vietnamese netizens have a Facebook account while 27 percent have a Zing account.A new user from Vietnam joins Facebook every three seconds.24 percent of Vietnam’s netizens have a YouTube account.On average, everyone in Vietnam has around 1.4 mobile subscriptions.The most dramatic change in the country’s digital landscape this year has been the shift in the power of social media. Just 12 months ago, there were only 2.9 million Facebook users in Vietnam; today, there are more than 8.5 million – an increase of almost 200 percent.Data from Facebook itself suggests that the network’s user base in the country has grown by 500,000 in the past two weeks alone.Up until last week, the leader of the country’s social media scene was local network Zing, which claimed around 8.2 million users.Although the latest official numbers for Zing users are a few months old and actual users may have increased since they were released, it now appears that Facebook has taken over the number one spot in Vietnam.Tuoitrenews/VOV online