VnExpress International named among top 15 English news websites in Southeast Asia

• AT&T to buy Time Warner for $85 bln, create telecom-media giant
• Da Nang bans civil servants from social media during work hours

VnExpress International, the English version of Vietnam’s most-read news site VnExpress, has been listed among the top 15 English websites in terms of information quality and presentation in Southeast Asia.

It is the only website from Vietnam on the list, standing together with established sites in the region such as Channel NewsAsia and The Straits Times of Singapore, Bangkok Post and The Nation of Thailand, The Star Online of Malaysia and Indonesia’s Jakarta Post. The Philippines also has several sites on the list.

The six countries, which make up 95 percent of total ASEAN GDP, are the most advanced countries and more proficient in English than their peers, according to ASEAN UP, which compiled the list.

The websites are great sources of information about their respective countries from a local perspective, it said. They have a large reader base and are also popular on social media.

The homepage of VnExpress International

Florian Bansac, founder of ASEAN UP, said it first came up with a bigger list of 50 media outlets that included several other English news sites from Vietnam.

The “quintessential list” was selected based on four criteria: quality of information, quality of design and user experience, web domain authority and the number of social media followers.

VnExpress International was launched last April, targeting global readers with daily news updates and analysis of Vietnam’s culture, travel and development. Its Facebook page now has nearly 10,700 fans.

“The criteria that make VnExpress stand out from its peers is especially its clear design and structure of information that enables a much better user experience and intuitive navigation through the news that each visitor might be interested in,” Bansac said.

He said the online domination of the Vietnamese version of VnExpress also makes its English version more recognized through search engines than other Vietnamese news websites.

Officially launched in April 2014, ASEAN UP has been focusing on finding and spreading quality resources from top companies, media and government agencies while creating its own resources.

Related news:

>AT&T to buy Time Warner for $85 bln, create telecom-media giant

>Da Nang bans civil servants from social media during work hours