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Good Morning, Vietnam!

February 6, 2007 on 3:38 pm | In Avatars, Fun Stuff | 37 Comments

A few weeks ago, some members of the Yahoo! Messenger team traveled through Vietnam en route home from a conference in Asia. With the help of some local Yahoos in Ho Chi Minh City and a research company, they set out to interview some Messenger users.

Billed as an immersion trip, their goal was to observe and interview Vietnamese users using Yahoo! Messenger in different environments. They interviewed users from 16 to 25 years of age in their homes and in Internet cafes.

In Vietnam, Yahoo! Messenger is the most popular instant messaging application, and our users there are really enthusiastic about it. While we do offer Messenger in more than a dozen languages, we don’t yet offer it in Vietnamese, so these users all use the U.S. version.

Despite a possible language barrier, they take full advantage of Yahoo! Messenger and especially love the expression features like emoticons, audibles, Avatars, webcam, and IMVironments — they seem to use every feature we offer. Another thing we learned: Just changing the location of a single button in a new release can wreak havoc on their usage patterns!

The team met several users who were especially passionate about Messenger and Avatars. As thanks for their participation in the research, we wanted to do something special for them. So with a few snaps of the digital camera, we brought their images home and sent them to the Avatars team. Our artist went to work, and a few days later, their Avatars were born.

These new Avatars based on our Vietnamese friends will make their official debut on February 27. If you haven’t been by in awhile, check out our Avatars site. There are new accessories and outfits added often, so you never have to wear the same thing twice.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

UPDATE: The Vietnam avatar clothing is now available. Go to the Full Outfit category on Yahoo! Avatars to check them out.

37 Comments »

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  1. well. I’m also from HCMC,Vietnam.^__^yeah absolutely.Y!M is the most popular for Vietnamese internet users…

    Comment by kiki0noah — February 6, 2007 #

  2. its also popular in india

    Comment by daniel — February 7, 2007 #

  3. In Romania, it is also extremely popular. It’s kinda hard for me to understand why most people in the US & Canada use MSN because YM is by far the best instant messenger ever. And with all the new features added in the latest versions, how could somebody not want to use it?
    In Romania, if you don’t have an ID for Yahoo Messenger, you don’t exist.

    Comment by Denisa — February 7, 2007 #

  4. could u please fix the security problems with Yim cuz the ppl from india romania and other places are using them =( to mess us up get our passwords and our private info =(

    Comment by catherine — February 7, 2007 #

  5. What security problems are you talking about, Catherine? Perhaps you should try using a password that is longer than 5 characters.
    And how come you are talking about Romanians and Indians in the very place where a Romanian and an Indian have written how much we enjoy using YM in our countries? Is it just me or you are trying to start “something” here?

    Comment by Denisa — February 7, 2007 #

  6. Congrats your artist that avatars looks so similar & cute, now you know what you are in trouble every Country in the World will ask to make avatars for them

    P.S: Messenger team; Why do you use this default emoticons but not replace them with Yahoo! Messenger emoticons

    Comment by Can — February 7, 2007 #

  7. Messenger is also very popular in Poland. You guys should consider adding more languages.

    Comment by Christopher — February 7, 2007 #

  8. I think Y!M is very useful! I have used MSN already but I still prefer Y!M. I’m from Hanoi, Vietnam. Most of people here use Y!M and they like it so much!

    Comment by Mi — February 7, 2007 #

  9. Of course! I think 99% internet user in Vietnam using Yahoo. Another 1% will be MSN. The difference is in YAHOO, you can login to Chat Room and spend a lot of time to meet stranger people. In MSN, you can’t. However, Voice and Webcam of MSN are better than Yahoo. If Yahoo can setup a paid program to have a fast moving webcam and clear voice chat, I will buy that account (Paypal is an example). Welcome everybody to Vietnam.

    Comment by Frankie Nguyen — February 7, 2007 #

  10. yeah..absolutely..Almost young ppl here in Vietnam have got their own Y!H ids nowadays.(and so do I)..I’ve also used MSN but actually the users aren’t provide with many excited stuffs..not as many as Yahoo. there’re some limits for the MSN users or others…But with Yahoo.I’m able to discover the different excited stuffs everyday..that’s really cool.

    Comment by kiki0noah — February 8, 2007 #

  11. The Article was very interesting to know the lengths Yahoo goes to for R & D.

    I Love Latin America and the preople. I enjoy traveling and have noted that YM is very popular but they use Skype for VOIP calls on account of quality.

    Was wondering if I can join your R & D team if they are going on mission anytime in the CALA area.

    All the best Yahoo team!!!

    Comment by Currie — February 8, 2007 #

  12. I’m in WA now and I appreciate if you guys have Y!M using Vietnamese language since many friends of mine born here want to have a Vietnamese version.

    Comment by Aimee Vo — February 8, 2007 #

  13. yeah, almost user in vietnam use YM. They use yahoo to chat, mail and make the webblog. So then, Yahoo is so popurlar to Vietnamese who use the internet. it’s so convinient. But thevoice, webcam and the yahoo Vietnam still got some problem. For example, my email is yahoo Vietnam. So then, when i make my blog, there is no the ALL COMMENT. i dnt know why. So then, when my friend wanna write a short message, they have to come to my entry to post one. I hope Y!M will improve all the problem i told. Anyway, thx Y!M and welcome to Vietnam ^^

    Comment by Hang — February 9, 2007 #

  14. i agree with Denisa.
    in Romania… you don’t exist if you don’t have an Y! Id and a hi5 Profile

    Comment by Adrian — February 10, 2007 #

  15. love those avatars! I want one too. . . . hey is it possible to have two or more avartas in the same frame. I’d like that too. I hope you add the newest avartars and the outfits to the selection page.

    Comment by lanafalana — February 10, 2007 #

  16. in germany lots of people have yahoo im too…

    Comment by Gabby — February 10, 2007 #

  17. Yes Yahoo is very popular but I have not been able to log in during the past 5 hours.

    Anyway, Happy Valentine to Yahoo Team and to YOU who are reading this :-P

    Comment by Lolie — February 10, 2007 #

  18. oh! why i dont understand? i like CIT310…

    Comment by Phuong Pham — February 11, 2007 #

  19. Thanks for exploring Vietnam!

    My husband and I used to chat on YM everyday until we got married and now my mum/ dad and I chat every weekend (+ getting in touch with friends and relative). This is the greatest things ever!!!! we can chat (text), talk (voice), see (webcam) and share pictures etc…. the real communications in the real world.

    However due to language barrier, my mum/dad did not use all advantages of YM, eg: they don’t know how to report abuse of the system, they don’t know how to share picture or how to save them, etc…. I had to email them separately to tell them what to do. It would be extremely useful if YM can offer in Vietnamese for them.

    Once again, thanks for inventing YM!!!!!

    Comment by nth — February 11, 2007 #

  20. Hi there, I would like the functionality to be easy and intuitive so that my Vietnamese parents in law can continue to use Yahoo Messenger. It is on on great communication tool that allows my wife and I in Canada to stay in touch with our family in HCM city. Thanks

    Comment by Thomas — February 11, 2007 #

  21. YM is very popular. However, in my case, everytime when YM comes on, it automatically turns off the monitor or PC; then, immediately YM comes back changing my desktop font sizes to bigger sizes. I have to go to control panel/Display to change the settings – screen resolution from 800 by 600 pixels to 1024 by 768 or higher. I am using Win. XP. It is really a nuisance. Please, advise.
    Thanks.
    Peter M
    USA

    Comment by Peter M — February 11, 2007 #

  22. Hi,

    Very please invite you to our country A small, a very small , but warmest country in the world. You’re right, YIM is the most popular messenger we use. YIM also connect us with their blog services, so we’re very excited with YIM.

    Have a nice day, and hope to meet you in Vietnam.

    Phan Hong Son.

    Comment by phanhongson — February 11, 2007 #

  23. Oops! The avatar so cute and very similar to Vietnamese people. I’m in Hanoi, Capital of Vietnam, and we can see that Y!M is the most popular I!M in Vietnam, very easy to use, we love so much the smiley and audibles.

    Thanks for visiting our country, have a nice day!
    Nhat Quang.
    Vietnam.

    Comment by Quang Giò — February 11, 2007 #

  24. Two days ago it took 12 hours and today not sure how long…could not log in Poor Yahoo it has to work 24/7 :-P No wonder why it is on strike …as always :-P or maybe hackers

    Comment by Lolie — February 11, 2007 #

  25. wow, why don’t you guys visit mah house ? ^^ I think those avatars are really nice, luv to have one of mah own… ^^
    Hey you guys in the Avatars Team, keep up the gud work ^^
    Welcome to Vietnam.. you’ll find out that our country is really nice & peaceful… ^^
    Att – 13

    Comment by Tuấn Nguyễn Hữu — February 12, 2007 #

  26. dont know what to say, I somehow felt excited when reading this article.

    Comment by giandi_xinhxinh — February 12, 2007 #

  27. MSN is totally defeated in Vietnam though it has similar services comparing to Yahoo. Yahoo is extremely popular and single most important IM in this 80 million, young population country.

    In personal use, i use mostly YIM but sometimes MSN to communicate with EU colleagues who prefer MSN. Nonetheless with recent integration between the two, that practice is unnecessary.

    Comment by talk2minh — February 12, 2007 #

  28. Hi, its lovly to surf on ur blog.

    Comment by Sonu — February 12, 2007 #

  29. nice avatars hope you enjoy IM… it realy creates strong social relationships

    Comment by michael — February 12, 2007 #

  30. These 3 avatars above are so nice, and their owners are so lucky, I hope I can have my own one like this!

    Btw, I don’t know what happened with (nearly) your all services today. It’s more exactly that I couldn’t use any service of Yahoo for 30 hours (from Yahoo mail, Y!M to Y!360 or Flickr)!
    I don’t know why, but I hope that you Yahoo team can fix this problem asap.

    Thank you and welcome to Vietnam again… to make a custom avatar for me!

    Quang Minh – From Hanoi

    Comment by KangMin — February 12, 2007 #

  31. wow, nice avatar from asia… i come from asia too especialy in from indoensia… when will u go to here

    Comment by abah oryza — February 13, 2007 #

  32. Cheers guys, such a surprise to see an entry about Vietnam here. Without a doubt, Yahoo Messenger is the most popular choice there. Imagine a day without YM, that’s just too scary to think of.

    I do hope you plan to add Vnese into YM and if you need any help regarding translation, I’m more than willing to do so.

    Regards,
    Minh Hoang

    Comment by Minh Hoang — February 13, 2007 #

  33. hôm nay 27 Tết rùi, chúc mọi người năm ĐInh Hợi ai gầy thì béo tròn này, vui này , ngày càng dễ thương nà!
    hôm nay cũng là valentine luôn, mọi người việt nam ở đâu cũng hạnh phúc nhé,
    with all my love
    quỳnh!
    happy new year and happy valentine day
    with all my hugs
    :D love again

    Comment by Quỳnh — February 13, 2007 #

  34. In Vietnam, Yahoo Messenger is the best !

    From the young kids to old people, evryone has an ID. While Chinese use QQ messenger – their own product for the Chinese interface, Vietnamese love YM despite the language barrier. Infact, the Vietnamese programmers did invent some instant messengers with Vietnamese interface but they couldnt impress users. Using Yahoo, u also have a blog which helps you to connect with people from everywhere. Yahoo 360 blog now becomes something so popular that whoever you are, you must have one !

    We’re satisfied with Yahoo Messenger coz we’re youngers and we can speak English but we hope that u’ll soon make a Vietnamese version for our parents so that they can use it more easily. By the way, I also think that Yahoo company should extent activities in this country coz Vietnam is going to be one of the fastest and best information expansion countries in Asia.

    Thanks Yahoo team, and welcome to Vietnam !

    Comment by Rich — February 13, 2007 #

  35. Hi, would love to have you join my 360 yahoo page but I don’t know for sure how to do it without an email address my ID is twocute4youtoo if you want to add to my messanger. I am a nurse in the USA and have a good friend that volunteers with Doctor’s without borders in Vietnam all the time and is there now. He is on my 360 page. I plan to volunteer as well, would be nice to chat about what I hear is a beautiful country!

    Comment by wendy — February 14, 2007 #

  36. i like this blog

    Comment by ryannguyen — February 17, 2007 #

  37. I think .. i may try this clothes for may avatar huh?.. It’s so cute and similar to the Vietnamese culture^^. i love it!!

    Comment by kendylau — February 18, 2007 #

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