4 ms·

Vietnam has a fairly large population and FB is the platform of choice for communication and to a large degree shopping. Small businesses love it. For anecdota

by blago 6y ago

Vietnam has a fairly large population and FB is the platform of choice for communication and to a large degree shopping. Small businesses love it. For anecdotal evidence, I have been ordering food on FB every day for the last month. My wife is watching a life-streaming apparel sale as we speak.

JCharante 6y ago
Facebook is truly huge. Several expats I know that had previously quit Facebook have had to unquit because it's so ingrained in society. Checking menus and hours (Facebook pages will be more up to date than google maps entries), messaging to order delivery, live streams for online shopping, finding an apartment, buying motorbikes... Relating to your small businesses, a lot of them will have their own shippers to save on having to pay the cut from a food delivery app. When I needed a reusable mask after the ones I had were running out at the end of my quarantine, I just messaged a guy who had his online business and an hour later my shipment had arrived (he used an inter-city courier, but you get the point). Somehow being in a city of 8 million makes you feel in more of a community than being in a city of 150k. I've had a bakery message me to ask if I was in the mood for ordering cupcakes when they still had extra at the end of the day (and I was). A few weeks after a new japanese ramen restaurant told me they only offered take out, they messaged me to tell me that they now offered delivery. It's an amazing channel for businesses to reach their customers. It's also a really convenient place to get news, because since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about. (and by fake news I mean sensationalist stuff, not anything serious relating to politics. I obviously understand the shortcomings with such a system when it relates to criticism of the government) It's also really nice because you don't have pseudo-science crap on your feed (since sharing that stuff is a fineable offense). Although you still have to watch out for the moms in their Zalo groupchats.
- ceilingcorner 6y ago
  > It's also a really convenient place to get news, because since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about. Comments like this remind me that totalitarianism doesn't need to be forceful or hostile, implemented by a shadowy government from above. People themselves will often happily serve as salesmen for the regime - with a 0% commission, to boot.
- zentiggr 6y ago
  > It's also a really convenient place to get news, because since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about. (and by fake news I mean sensationalist stuff, not anything serious relating to politics. I obviously understand the shortcomings with such a system when it relates to criticism of the government) It's also really nice because you don't have pseudo-science crap on your feed (since sharing that stuff is a fineable offense). Every single word of that reads like exactly the reasons any media company that wants to maintain their own reputation should pull out of Vietnam and anywhere else that they have to compromise their content. And post a list of countries that have made requests to remove any content specific to that country.
- aglionby 6y ago
  > It's an amazing channel for businesses to reach their customers. Do you have any insight on how consumers find this? I can imagine it's nice to hear (rarely) from a few places that you care about, but taken too far I think I'd find the mixing of messages from friends and companies pretty annoying.
- meowface 6y ago
  I'm very skeptical of any state that outlaws what they label as pseudoscience or fake news. Odds are that means they're banning some of what I would consider pseudoscience and fake news but sometimes permitting or mandating what I would consider to be other kinds. For example, imagine the US government as it exists today banning everything they call pseudoscience or fake news. Even if you say it's just "sensationalist stuff" and not political things, I wouldn't trust them to make either distinction. Hopefully you see that "because since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about" is essentially a verbatim line out of any dystopian novel. And with the added context of this article saying the state is refusing to allow Facebook to operate unless they censor posts that criticize the state, the allusion isn't even necessary, since the dystopian aspect is already so incredibly blatant.
- wolco 6y ago
  Would it be more fake news and no one to debate how valid the government approved stories are?
  - jaywalk 6y ago
    The government of Vietnam has assured everyone that their news is real news. You are fake news.
- anonymouswacker 6y ago
  "since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about." "you don't have pseudo-science crap on your feed (since sharing that stuff is a fineable offense)" As a westerner, these phrases give me pause. It sounds like Facebook has become a profitable arm of the surveillance state.

by blago 6y ago

JCharante 6y ago

Facebook is truly huge. Several expats I know that had previously quit Facebook have had to unquit because it's so ingrained in society. Checking menus and hours (Facebook pages will be more up to date than google maps entries), messaging to order delivery, live streams for online shopping, finding an apartment, buying motorbikes... Relating to your small businesses, a lot of them will have their own shippers to save on having to pay the cut from a food delivery app. When I needed a reusable mask after the ones I had were running out at the end of my quarantine, I just messaged a guy who had his online business and an hour later my shipment had arrived (he used an inter-city courier, but you get the point). Somehow being in a city of 8 million makes you feel in more of a community than being in a city of 150k. I've had a bakery message me to ask if I was in the mood for ordering cupcakes when they still had extra at the end of the day (and I was). A few weeks after a new japanese ramen restaurant told me they only offered take out, they messaged me to tell me that they now offered delivery. It's an amazing channel for businesses to reach their customers. It's also a really convenient place to get news, because since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about. (and by fake news I mean sensationalist stuff, not anything serious relating to politics. I obviously understand the shortcomings with such a system when it relates to criticism of the government) It's also really nice because you don't have pseudo-science crap on your feed (since sharing that stuff is a fineable offense). Although you still have to watch out for the moms in their Zalo groupchats.

ceilingcorner 6y ago
> It's also a really convenient place to get news, because since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about. Comments like this remind me that totalitarianism doesn't need to be forceful or hostile, implemented by a shadowy government from above. People themselves will often happily serve as salesmen for the regime - with a 0% commission, to boot.
zentiggr 6y ago
> It's also a really convenient place to get news, because since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about. (and by fake news I mean sensationalist stuff, not anything serious relating to politics. I obviously understand the shortcomings with such a system when it relates to criticism of the government) It's also really nice because you don't have pseudo-science crap on your feed (since sharing that stuff is a fineable offense). Every single word of that reads like exactly the reasons any media company that wants to maintain their own reputation should pull out of Vietnam and anywhere else that they have to compromise their content. And post a list of countries that have made requests to remove any content specific to that country.
aglionby 6y ago
> It's an amazing channel for businesses to reach their customers. Do you have any insight on how consumers find this? I can imagine it's nice to hear (rarely) from a few places that you care about, but taken too far I think I'd find the mixing of messages from friends and companies pretty annoying.
meowface 6y ago
I'm very skeptical of any state that outlaws what they label as pseudoscience or fake news. Odds are that means they're banning some of what I would consider pseudoscience and fake news but sometimes permitting or mandating what I would consider to be other kinds. For example, imagine the US government as it exists today banning everything they call pseudoscience or fake news. Even if you say it's just "sensationalist stuff" and not political things, I wouldn't trust them to make either distinction. Hopefully you see that "because since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about" is essentially a verbatim line out of any dystopian novel. And with the added context of this article saying the state is refusing to allow Facebook to operate unless they censor posts that criticize the state, the allusion isn't even necessary, since the dystopian aspect is already so incredibly blatant.
wolco 6y ago
Would it be more fake news and no one to debate how valid the government approved stories are?
- jaywalk 6y ago
  The government of Vietnam has assured everyone that their news is real news. You are fake news.
anonymouswacker 6y ago
"since all news sources are government approved then there's no fake news to worry about." "you don't have pseudo-science crap on your feed (since sharing that stuff is a fineable offense)" As a westerner, these phrases give me pause. It sounds like Facebook has become a profitable arm of the surveillance state.