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Revision as of 09:24, 31 May 2020

PLUN.ASIA
Type of site
Social Networking and Dating website
Available inEnglish, Vietnamese
OwnerDWM Inc.
Created byKelvin To
URLwww.plun.asia
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired
LaunchedOctober 2010
Current statusOnline

PLUN.ASIA, formerly PLU-N.COM, was a bilingual social networking service that catered to the Vietnamese gay community worldwide. The site was a digital brand of DWM Inc. It provided a set of tools to help users find and connect with friends. Its slogan was "He's Here" claiming the site's mission was to help singles to find their dream boy. In November 2010, PLUN declared its business model, a gay dating & social networking site, is the only of its kind in Vietnam and Asia.[1] PLUN is believed to compete with Fridae and gaydar in Viet Nam market.

PLUN was founded by Kelvin To in 2010. It took him nine years to seek fund for the project before he decided to start the website himself. PLUN is the main supporter and sponsor of some of largest local LGBT events such as Angel Style and Bitch Party[2] and regional events such as Black Party, White Party, Pride Manila in Manila, Philippines and gCircuit Songkran 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The name

PLUN stands for PLU Nation. PLU (People Like Us) is a common term in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia used to indicate the LGBT community. Kelvin To, a Vietnamese, chose to have PLU in the site's name because he spent most of his early years in Singapore.

Features

PLUN was described by its users as "gay.com meets Facebook meets Foursquare" which is why the website became an instant hit to Vietnamese gay users when Facebook, their new favorite channel after Yahoo! 360 was closed in 2008, is getting more difficult to access due to government's issues. (See Censorship of Facebook.)[3]

In January 2011, CEO Kelvin To announced a new version will be released by year end followed with a mobile application.

Management Change & Rebranding

In July 2011, Kelvin To made a share buyback offer to other partners and became controlling shareholder of DWM.

In December 2011, DWM rebranded the website as PLUN.ASIA and few months later, a new team was hired to start working on the next version of PLUN. In early December 2012, a month before version 2.0 to be released, PLUN created a viral video called "Even We're Apart" (Yêu Trong Xa Cách)[4] which immediately became a phenomenon among local LGBT community as well as official media channels. It was featured on VNExpress' Ione,[5] Zing's YouTube Channel,[6] Kenh14,[7] HimMag.[8]

References

  1. ^ Tam, Nguyen (November 2010). "Local Marketers Courting LGBT Consumers". US Magazine.
  2. ^ "Plu-N ra mắt phiên bản Beta tại Papa cafe! Bitch Party Saigon". Bitchpartysaigon.com. 2010-06-05. Archived from the original on 2011-08-12. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
  3. ^ Duong, Nguyen (February 2011). "Vietnamese Gays Go Social Network". Us Magazine.
  4. ^ PLUN, Youtube. "Yêu trong xa cách - Teaser 3 phút". Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  5. ^ Mai, Mai. "Lãng mạn clip 'Yêu trong xa cách' của hai cậu bạn đồng tính Việt". iOne VNExpress. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  6. ^ Vú Sữa, Kênh. "Even We're Apart". Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  7. ^ Unknown. "Cư dân mạng phát sốt vì clip đồng tính siêu cute". Kenh14. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  8. ^ Trâm, Huỳnh. "2 Chàng trai cực cute trong clip đồng tính lãng mạng là ai?". HimMag. Retrieved 10 January 2013.