(W11) Zalo, a Vietnamese phenomenal social platform

     Zalo is the most popular social messaging platform in Vietnam, like Messenger, Whatsapp or Telegram. Tailored for Vietnam market, Zalo provides almost everything that I need from a social messaging platform, making it even outstanding over international social messaging tools. By telling more about some typical Zalo features and what I like about them, I think you can get some new ideas of what a social messaging platform can be.

    It is common for Vietnamese to ask each other "Do you have a Zalo number?", which means "Does this phone number tie to your Zalo account?". Each Zalo account is identified uniquely with a phone number, which makes almost everyone own a Zalo account. People change from contacting through charged phone service into free Zalo (call, messaging). It is accessible and free. I can easily find anyone in Zalo by searching their phone number in the Zalo directory. It is, however, sensitive with privacy concerns.

    Due to its high popularity, Zalo is used in both personal and professional contexts. Instead of sending OTP SMS for users to log in an account, e-commerce platforms send free OTP through Zalo. Banks, schools, insurance companies, etc. send announcements to clients through Zalo with more confidence about the messages' open rate. Government also made some important announcements through Zalo during Covid-19 pandemics.

    Stickers and emoji in Zalo are one-of-a-kind with their own themes and styles. They look casual, very fun and expressive. On special occasions such as New Year or Teacher's Day, there is a new set of thematic backgrounds of the calling and messaging screen as well as thematic stickers. When users type some common phrases such as Thank you, Hello, Sorry, Love you, etc., an array of relevant stickers are displayed. Users can choose these recommended stickers instead of the intended texts or in combination with their texts.

Comments

  1. VanessaJuly 29, 2024 at 12:08 PM

    Thank you for sharing about Zalo. It's the first time I've heard of it!

    ReplyDelete

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