TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. Introduction (My)
Nowadays, Internet plays an important role in our life. There has been a steady increase in both internet users as well as the number of websites in Vietnam recent years. And, today our group will bring you further information about the variety of Internet activities of Vietnamese users basing on Vietnam Netcitizens Report (Cimigo) and the advantages and disadvantages of Internet.

B.

Development
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I.

Overview (Nhan)

There are more and more Vietnamese using Internet and this number has been increasing through years. We can see it clearly from the chart coming from VNNIC (Vietnam Internet Network Information Center), the percentage of Internet users in 2010 increased nearly 8 times as much as this number in 2003. Fig. 5: Internet users in Vietnam 2003-2010

According to Report on internet statistics of Vietnam, up to now, 30.6 million people in Vietnam are using the Internet, representing 35.11% of overall Vietnamese population. Internet usage varies by age. Amongst the young (15-24 years), Internet usage is nearly universal at 95%. In the age group 25-34 years, two-third is online. For older age group, internet usage is lower. Fig.7. Internet usage by age.

In addition, Vietnamese users spend considerable time online everyday; it is

about 2 hours

20 minutes per day. They access Internet everywhere such as at home, at work, at school via their desktop computers, laptop computers and even their mobile phones. Now, Internet is truly a vital part in our life.

II. Online activities. (Nam)

Therere 22 different online activities and clarified into 5 categories: - Information gathering - Online entertainment - Online communication - Online blogging and social networks - Online business The usage of online activities and applications differs from between age groups. The young internet users use more websites and nearly all online activities measured are more frequent with the age group 15-24 vs 25-65. The largest difference is measured for online gaming, sending SMS and posting in forums/blogs. These activities are nearly twice as frequently used by the young age groups. However, some activities that dont follow this pattern: reading news, using sites, e-mail, searching for jobs, online shopping are done by all age groups to the same extent. Fig.16. Online activities conducted in the past by age group

II.1 Information gathering.

Information gathering is the most frequent online activities including using for news, using search sites, research for school or office, searching for jobs. Reading news is the most activity on internet with more than 90% daily users in 2010 and 50% do so daily. Fig.19. Information gathering: usage frequency

Reading news and using search sites are the most common online activities across all age groups and geography regions in VN. Males use news sites more frequently than females, search sites are visited slightly more often by younger people. Over the last 3 years, the usage of online search sites has gained in importance. While less than 75% used search sites in 2007, more than 90% did so in 2009. Reading the news online and doing research for office/school increased since 2007. Fig.20. Information gathering usage 2007-2010.

Search sites (Google) visited daily by half of users.

II.2. Entertainment.
Entertainment is a key field of internet usage in Vietnam.

It includes the following activities: Listening to music, downloading music, watching movies, downloading movies, download or uploading pictures, playing games on web game, playing online games on online application. More than half of Internet users listen to music on regular basis. 60% have download music already and 40% do it once a week or more often. Besides, more than a half watches movies online. Playing game is less popular but 10% users game every day. Fig.21. Entertainment: usage frequency

Entertainment is clearly an activity for younger people. Users from 15-24 years have entertainment activities significantly more often. Some entertainment activities are slightly more popular with males than females. A gender specific usage difference is mainly observed for activities of advanced technical equipment (playing game online applications, downloading movies). The share of Internet users that download music has increased by 15% over the past 3 years and watching movies on the internet has increased by 10% since 2007. Fig. 22. Entertainment: development 2007-2010

Zing continue leading almost all entertainment activities on the Internet. 5

II. 3 Communication
Communication plays an important part in Internet usage. It includes e-mailling, chatting, sending SMS, instant messaging (most frequent communication forms) Chatting is more frequently in average week compared to e-mail, the usage of both is make up for about 70%. Sending SMS/instant messaging is less popular (20-25%). Young people use online communication more frequently. Nearly half of age group of 15-24 chat daily. E-mail is used more frequently by the 25-34 year olds. Fig.23. Communication: usage frequency

The usage of communication functions on the Internet decreased slightly from 2007 to 2009. Both chatting and e-mails reduced by about 10% and instant messaging is used significantly less often. Fig.24. Communication: Development 2007-2010

Yahoo is the most preferred provider of online communication. 65% people use Yahoo for email and 85% using for chatting.

II.4. Blogging and social network (My)

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Blogging and social network includes 5 activities visiting forums, posting in forums, visiting blogs, writing blogs, visiting a social network It is used by a substaintial number of Vietnamese people and constituting an important part in Internet life: Nearly half of Internet use have already visited forums, blogs and social networks. Daily usage is highest for social networks (15%), forums and blogs are visited on a weekly basis more often. An average user takes a rather passive role in blogging and forums: 30% have visited blogs but only 20% have actually written a blog themselves; 50% have already visited a forum but only 18% have actively posted in a forum. Fig.25.: Blogging and social networks: usage frequency

Fig.26. Blogging and social network: development 2007-2010

Blogging and social networking is a field of activity for young people:the majority of Internet users below 15 have already visited a forum, blog and social network, usage is about 50% higher than older age group.The active contribution of content to the internet is different: users below 25 years are posting in forums and writing blogs three times as often as those to user aged 25-65 years.

There are difference between genders: Females are visiting, writing blogs and using social networks more often than males. In contrast, males are visiting and posting in forums more than females. The most important reason to use social networks is to keep in touch, be updated about friends and meeting new people. Playing games or getting information about events is less important. Websites used for social networks + Facebook: the most popular with 70 % Internet users + Zing me: the second place with nearly 20% Website used for Blogs: + Yahoo 360plus: most important + Facebook: 35% as a blog

II. 5. Online business

It includes the following activities e-banking, online shopping/ visiting buy and sell sites/ auctions. They are not well developed: about 40% internet users have visited an online shopping or auction site and very few have ever used e-banking Online shopping is more frequent in the North (58% in Hanoi), most popular with the age group 25-34 and more common in higher economic classes. Fig.29. Online business: usage frequency.

Online shopping has seen the strongest increase in the last few years when it doubled from 2007, e-banking also increases from 7 to 12% Fig.30. Online business: Development 2007-2010.

Enbac.com is the most popular websites for online shopping, then followed by 123mua.vn and 5giay.vn. Enbac.com is preferred in the North and 123mua.vn and 5giay.vn are used more frequently in the South. As regards e-banking, Vietcombank, ACB and Techcombank are the three most popular sites.

III.

Advantages and disadvantages of Internet

III.1. Advantages (Nhan)

Internet is a pool of information. Thanks to Internet, we have the chance to access and gather a lot of useful information. the internet is filled with knowledge and information. It is essentially the largest library of all, and even if you dont aim to use it for learning purposes its pretty hard to go online without learning something because the news appear instantly on most search engines and e-mail providers home pages. It helps you a lot with your research and assignment at school or searching the data for debates and broaden your mind. It also connects people. People on social networking sites actually are real life people too. In the case of sites such as Facebook and others then, youre actually more in contact with people despite of far distance. You keep in touch with other people easily basing on Internet. Have you ever lost the contact of an old friend then thank to Internet, you connect to her again? Furthermore, when seeing other peoples points of view on forums and in chat rooms, it will make you more open minded and a more reasoned critic. There are a lot of applications to entertain. You can download movies and music free of charge. Besides, after hard-working day you can entertain yourself with online games. It makes you relaxed and fulfills your energy again. There are also positive effects of internet usage in business. Some people can now work entirely from home and set up their own businesses or even from anywhere while travelling. It also means fewer business trips abroad when people can make video conferences. You can set up online website for your business and sell something online to make money.

III.2. Disadvantages (Nam)

However, Internet also brings many disadvantages to psychological and physical users health. According to Professor Susan Greenfield, it results in big change in your brain; some functions in your brain will be decreased. The brain in forehead area controls behavioral function will be affected badly. When you use Internet too much, one factor called dopamine will over increases leading to malfunction of this area. Human will lose their creativity, creativity and emotion gradually if they use the modern technology frequently. After long hour using computer to access Internet, you may be act like a machine. Users dont have time to learn soft skills and communication skill in real life so they can ignore the real world and relationship around you. Besides, you can face up with information (losing your personal information) because of viruses or hackers and some bad guys. Lastly, some website on Internet is not trustful and has violent or sexual contents. It is really harmful to your mind.

C.

Conclusion (My)

Internet is an open environment. Just be a wise user and make use of it carefully. Adult users should know how to balance between your real life and Internet. For children, they can use Internet as useful tool to learn via official online newspaper, forums and study pages. Parents have to manage childrens Internet using time more. In short, everybody know that Internet brings too many advantages as well as disadvantages but now it plays an important role in our life and we cant ignore using it.

D. References
1. nh hng ca nhng cng ngh cao n t cuc sng. Retrieved from http://www.eva.vn/suc-khoe/anh-huong-cua-nhung-cong-nghe-cao-den-tu-cuoc-songc131a42953.html 2. Nhn din nhng tc ng tiu cc ca Internet i vi gii tr. Retrieved from http://www.baodienbienphu.info.vn 3. Why the Positive Effects of Internet Use Outweigh the Bad. Retrieved from http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/11625/1/Why-the-Positive-Effects-of-Internet-UseOutweigh-the-Bad.html 4. 2011 Vietnam Netcitizens Report. Downloading from http://www.cimigo.vn 5. Report on internet statistics of Vietnam. Retrieved from http://www.thongkeinternet.vn/jsp/trangchu/index.jsp 10