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Christopher Harvey
Christopher Harvey, 38 years old, is General Manager at
VietnamWorks.com and has vast working experiences for
Yahoo!, AOL and Lending Tree.
VietnamWorks.com is an online search job portal for employment
in Vietnam and endeavors to allow anyone to find their perfect job.
Christopher was kind enough to agree to our interview correspondence via email on 27th October 2008.
1. What are the motivations that drive you to set VietnamWorks.com in Vietnam?
VietnamWorks was founded in 2002 by Jonah Levey, another American. He traveled to Vietnam in 2001 and saw that most people were still applying for jobs using mailed applications. At that time, internet job sites were becoming very popular in the USA and other developed countries. Jonah saw an area to create value, moved here and started VietnamWorks to help jobseekers find jobs and help companies get great talent.
2. What are the most popular social media tools in Vietnam?
Just like anywhere, any web application that allows people to communicate with their friends and express their personalities is popular in Vietnam. It seems that nearly every young person has a blog on Yahoo 360. Yahoo Messenger and photo-sharing sites also are very popular.
3. Do you foresee social media and citizen journalism (e.g. blogs) replacing the role of traditional media in Vietnam. Why?
Before the internet, it was very challenging for a single person to publish and reach thousands -- or millions -- of people at low cost. It was a "few to many" model with only a few people controlling what most people read. With the internet, now we have a "many to many" model where anyone can start a blog for free and share their ideas and opinions with anyone in the world. It's an historic and revolutionary change in how people communicate -- similar to the telephone or printing press. Individuals are blogging about what interests them -- art, technology, their friends, current events, everything. I created my own blog to share details of my life in Vietnam with my family and friends (http://chrisfharvey.typepad.com).
I think that blogs have emerged as an important supplement to traditional media in Vietnam and other countries where there are many people online. However, I don't think that blogs will replace traditional media as the main source of information. I believe that traditional media -- newspapers, television, magazines, etc. -- will continue to be the main source of information for most people.
4. Are there growing trends in corporations using social media tools as a new tool to reach out to their customers? If yes, what are the usual tools they start off with? Are they any good examples that you can share with us?
Social media makes it easy to find, connect and stay in touch with people. Businesses have used social media to find candidates or do background checks on people. Something that a lot of people don't realize is that posting something on Facebook or Myspace makes it publicly available to the world. A good rule to follow is "Don't post anything online you wouldn't want your employer (or friends or family) reading.
VietnamWorks.com just launched a new professional networking product called Caravat.com. Caravat.com's objective is to serve as a resource for professionals to connect, share and stay in touch with valuable business contacts.
5. Are there any restrictions in Vietnam that might hinder further development of social media in the country? For example: government intervention, etc.
I'm not aware of any restrictions, but I do know that the government recently announced an initiative to monitor blogs in Vietnam. I'm not sure what effect, if any, that will have.
6. In your opinion, what do you think the key tips to effectively engage the social media scene in Vietnam?
The same tips I would give to anyone building an internet product anywhere -- build an outstanding product that adds value to people's lives by making it easier to find, connect, share and stay in touch with friends.
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