On August 20, VCCorp announced the investment in and development of Lotus, a social network described as ‘going a different way’ with focus on content. The beta version of the social network is scheduled to be launched on September 16.

Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Manh Hung

The project has raised VND700 billion of funds from VCCorp and domestic businesses and individuals. It plans to call for VND500 billion more for development in the first phase.

Unlike other social networks, Lotus focuses on content, creating a platform that helps content producers and individuals create high-quality content.

Lotus users will be able to have new experiences, receive tokens and them in useful ways, implement missions, take challenges and receive gifts.

Unlike other social networks, Lotus focuses on content, creating a platform that helps content producers and individuals create high-quality content.

They will also be able to relate their stories in a more beautiful and lively way. Instead of reading, they will ‘listen’ to stories with images.

Lotus is designed by a team of user experts and developed by a team of 200 technology engineers in mobility, AI, Big Data and Cloud Computing. The content can be personalized in accordance with the behavior and habit of user. The context of Lotus is also customized according to users’ behaviors such as news reading, entertainment and photo viewing.

As for content contributors, their content, names and numbers of fans will be protected. Lotus has a dedicated CMS system for content developers. People can make money through more ways than Facebook.

Developing a made-in-Vietnam social network has been mentioned by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc many times. Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Manh Hung also emphasized the need for Vietnam to have social networks of its own.

“Why don’t we think of developing a social network to replace Facebook, if Facebook’s philosophy is no longer suitable for the world?” he said.

There are 2.3 billion Facebook users. However, the users cannot determine the rules of the game.

“Why don’t we generate a social network which is different from Facebook? Users can set the rules of the game, the value to be created can be shared, and the social network will observe the laws of the countries where it reaches because it is tailored to fit local laws,” Hung said.

However, he warned that if Vietnamese developers just ‘copy’ the idea of Facebook, the won’t have an opportunity to defeat the world’s biggest social network.

“Facebook spends multi-billion dollars a year on research and development. But it is not good to make a shirt which is similar to another. You will succeed only if you can make a shirt with another philosophy,” he said. 

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