Young Vietnamese embrace Threads as new bragging ground

"I am Nam, currently in my second year of studying IT, and I work in sales. My first month's salary was VND40 million ($1,600) and [it reached] VND100 million in the second month. Should I quit studying to work instead?" a person with a Threads account named Thanh Nam, supposedly born in 2005, asked on the platform.

Another user, a 28-year-old, boasted about their rapid financial success, detailing how they managed to buy a car and an apartment after just four years of working.

"Bought my own Mercedes; my own apartment; 1-2 months of traveling and enjoying life; 1-2 times of doing charity a year; owning my own business with 200 personnel," the post read.

The user attributed their wealth to incomes from e-commerce, restaurants, gyms, and real estate.

Threads, developed by Meta as a competitor to X, has positioned itself as a text-based alternative to image-centric Instagram and video-focused TikTok.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this month that Threads has grown to 200 million monthly users, an increase from the 175 million reported last month.

In Vietnam, the platform has gained traction thanks to its seamless integration with existing Instagram accounts. Among the most popular content on Threads are posts where users discuss their income and professional achievements.

Xuan Tu, a photography influencer with over 100,000 Instagram followers, expresses surprise at the platform’s content.

She says: "For every 10 posts, six or seven are about people bragging about their incomes. It feels like everyone on Threads is very successful.

"I know someone whose Facebook and Instagram presence is quite modest, but on Threads, they come across as a role model with a monthly salary in the thousands of dollars."

Mai Ngoc, an HR director at a telecom firm in HCMC, sees Threads as a valuable resource for recruiting, especially finding freelancers.

While some users appreciate Threads for its relatively ad-free environment, Tu found the constant boasting tiresome and stopped using it after just a month.