Thing 23: Virtual Worlds

1. Virtual Worlds are used for a range of applications including entertainment, commercial applications and research. Nowadays, it is also being used by public organization or government to perfrom public diplomacy. Virtual Worlds can be use to raise funds, to promote an event or organize a public survey or campaign. In a webminar, a virtual environment might be a richer experience than a real life environment. Participants still can hear the presentations, ask questions and participate in discussion. They may not be so involved if it is done in real seminar.

2. Academic institutions and libraries can use virtual worlds in a different way than real life. They can introduce a new techonology, advertise a book, a new product without having real interaction or presenting products. It is easy to spread information to a wide range of audiences as well as stay over time.

3. The Consulate can use a virtual world environment for a Speaker program or seminar, or even a conference. It would help to attract more audiences and keep them abreast of update information about U.S.

Thing 22: The Mobile Wed

1. My Consulate Web site looks a bit odd on a mobile phone. It's hard to navigate the site.

2. There are items that are especially important to display on our mobile web site such as:

Visa information
USA Education
Employment opportunities
IRC services and programs
Fullbright and other scholarship programs

3. Content should be removed from our web site are old highlights or long reports.

4. I did not have a good experience navigating our mobile web site. It was slow and sometime out of control.

5. The web-enabled phones will help distribute IRC information and make it easy for us to approach our patrons. Patrons will have more chances to access to information since internet phone are popular in Vietnam. News will be quickly reached our target audiences.

Thing 21: Short Messages Service (SMS)

SMS fee in Vietnam is very popular now. We can use SMS to send our program information to target audiences.

Thing 20: Search Engine Optimization

1. Google Trends: When searching for "Storm" and "Hurricane, trends are mostly from North America and Europe. However, it showed different levels in different countries. Most people in Iceland and Norway search for "Storm" while more search for "Hurricane" in the United Staes and United Kingdom.

2. Limit the trend to Vietnam, there are no result for "Hurricane" searching while lots of people search for "Storm"

3. Google AdWords: We commonly use "IRC" to post information about our Information Resource center on our Web site. We found it is the most effective word with 550,000 monthly local search.

4. Google Insight: "Weather" is currently resonating our web search in the country. It showed that more people are interested in knowing what the weather is like in their areas.

5. It is a informative exercise. I've been learning a lot while going through Google options, Google Adwords or Google insight, something in Google that I did not know about before. Be learning this, I can work on our website to make it a more hit on the web search.

Thing 19: Web Site Usage Statistics

According to Alexa, 5 top sites in Vietnam are: Google, VNExpress, Zing, Yahoo, Youtube

The most popular Social Media Platforms in Vietnam are facebook and Zing.

Thing 18: What's New with Search Engines

Search Options in Google:

I've not tried all options but found Google Directory is very helpful.  I can limit my search in a caterory that is most relevant. It helps save time while conducting search.

Thing 17: Books 2.0

1. It is amazing how informative and inspiring this online tools brought to us.  The  more I did into it, the more I get exciting. The Litlovers provides whole lot ideas of book clubs and book reviews or discussion that it's even hard for a reluctant reader to stay aside. The Wired for Books is awesome. It's my first time to try this page and I found it so surprising. Living in this busy life, these online, audio interviews, chat, introductions just draw our attention back to what we seemed ignoring.  The Ebook on America.gov is far more than just book related page. It promotes interactions, engages readers in different activities, inspires ideas and thus gradually passes information to audiences. The Open Culture page is so fun and vivid. I can't help myself exploring through all of these resources. It is so useful, easy to reach and updated.

2.  I added WorldCat into my facebook. I dig into it and found it's useful in term of book information and location and review. However, I think that U.S. readers would benefit more from this application than people outside the U.S. They can easily find books in nearby libraries and are more familiar with book themes.