Comments (1)

By TaiTran, January 22, 2012 6:09 am

Below is the Vietnamese version of my presentation at Open Consultant offline December 2011 on Vietnam e-Commerce Outlook in 2012.

Click here to read my English version. Please note that the English version is more updated.

Comments (0)

By TaiTran, January 21, 2012 8:14 pm

Blogging, micro-blogging, social news and top social networks (Facebook & Google+) have one prominent feature: followship. Followship is the key to extend our influence and authority on the Internet, namely, the more followers you have, the more widespread your information gets.

The rising power of memes has a different perspective. On the most notorious _{[I'm trollin', problemo?]} meme-sharing site 9gag.com and its Vietnamese clone cab.vn, follow is not a celebrated feature. As far as my best guess goes, the weight of followship in the trending algorithm is neglectable. What determines the hotness is content that is good and more importantly, framed to match the community’s culture and expectation.

In this case, followship is only mental. Influence not tied to one specific piece of content is only extended to those who remember the poster’s ID. I would ex;pect this mental capability and attention to be limited in quantity.

So, instead of spending time and efforts to build followship on these sites, one can simply post one sensational story and rally the crowd to her own scheme. Template? Nescafé!

At least that’s the mechanical side. @goldscors makes a compelling statement: you can actually mobilize the attentive group (who appreciate your influence) into extending the influence. I would imagine the case as multi-tiered viral: get the elite to spark discussions favorable to you then fuel group-thinking among the rest. Of course, this is of significantly less power than followship and sharing (retweet in Twitter, reblog in Tumblr, submit in Digg).

Even this picture of mine is a meme attempt. Implying we regress is, for all practical purpose, an act of trolling.

Comments (2)

By TaiTran, January 18, 2012 12:25 am

Verdict

As for me personally one single feature – compatibility with Microsoft Office 2010 by default – dwarves all other aspects. If I didn’t have a Samsung Galaxy Note I would definitely go for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1!

Reference

http://deviceguru.com/galaxy-tab-10-1-vs-ipad2-smackdown/

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/397372/apple_ipad_2_vs_samsung_galaxy_tab_10_1_tablet_showdown/

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-10.1-vs-Apple-iPad-2_id2765

Comments (1)

By TaiTran, January 10, 2012 7:39 pm

Messages in the format "every time someone sends the message, an [organization] will donate [amount] cents to [the cause]", accompanied by sympathetic (and disturbing) pictures, are almost always a scam.

Why

1. You won’t find the information on the official communication channel of the organizations (UNICEF, WWF, NGOs…)
2. The chain mail / chain messages have been a disease on email and MSN messenger. Technically, it’s impossible for the creator of the content to track how many email/message have been sent.
3. It is possible to track on Facebook, but if the campaign were real the owner would have used more effective methods e.g. ad
4. You won’t find the story on credible sources when you search

Why would anyone do that?

1. On websites: to attract pageviews
2. On Facebook: to attract likes
3. Or just for other malicious purposes

Please, my friends, be mindful what you share. Be wise not to annoy your friends with these hoaxes.

Examples

The cancer baby hoax and demystifying the hoax

Comments (0)

By TaiTran, January 3, 2012 7:22 pm

I’ve seen Baskin Robbins back to Ho Chi Minh city in at least 3 locations: NTMK, Nguyen Trai, and Truong Dinh – Pham Hong Thai corner and I couldn’t refrain my excitement.

I just had Baskin Robbins today with some friends and, unfortunately, we had a few issues:

1. Under-frozen ice-cream. The scoops melted only after 2 minutes. From my memory back in 1994, the ice-cream was harder, stickier and took much longer to melt. The ice-cream I had in other countries also tasted better than the ones I was just having.
2. The flavor labels were not tagged on the ice-cream containers. We had to blind-pick.
3. Undertrained staff. They couldn’t tell and consult on the flavors.
4. Store model. Being the current most expensive ice-cream (VND 45,000 per 2.5 oz scoop), the store can be considered fine-dining dessert to the living standard of Vietnam. However, stores are being setup as short-serving takeaway. From my stay in the store in the corner of Truong Dinh and Pham Hong Thai, I observed many tourists who dropped by, recognizing the brand. This customer segment should be comfortable with high-turnover, takeaway model. I’m not sure it works for locals who go to fast food chains, like KFC, to stay and chat.
5. Azi added: No drinking water (after a very sweet treat), no WC

***

I also had a personal observation:

• Smallest scoop: 45,000 for 2.5oz, or 18,000 per oz
• Value scoop: 4oz, also 18,000 per oz

Unless very full to want a single scoop, I would almost always select the smallest scoop to mix multiple flavors.

• 3 non-combo scoop: 120,000 for 3 flavors
• 3-flavor sundae: 110,000 for 3 flavors. The sundae comes with topping and whipped cream.

I would always pick the sundae if I want 3 flavors for it is cheaper (though smaller in size per scoop).

But I’m pretty sure usual diners wouldn’t do the mental calculation like my first example.

***

Häagen-Dazs is opening and it will be even more expensive than Baskin Robbins. I’m holding my breath.