My Problem With Monetization On Twitter (X)
The goalposts have shifted
Earlier this year, Twitter (X) announced that creators on Twitter would earn for their content. The creators would get paid mainly through a share of ad revenue generated from ads displayed in response to their posts.
Next came the flood of posts of people earning high bucks from Twitter. It was evidence enough that Elon was true to his word.
Some users made much much more — up to $5000 from the share of ads revenue. This got many people thinking that they would also earn from the platform.
However, Twitter (X) set some conditions for monetization.
- A verified organization or Twitter Blue subscriber.
- An account with up to 500 followers.
- Tweets with impressions exceeding 5 million per month over the past three months.
So, the traffic shifted away from Threads and onto X. In hindsight, I think Elon figured out the perfect answer to Threads. Monetization.
What does it mean to be verified?
One of the conditions for monetization was to subscribe to Twitter Blue. Twitter Blue changed what it meant for a Twitter user to be verified. A few years back, Twitter verification meant something. That your content was revered.
Caitlin O’kane wrote that Twitter phased its old legacy verification program where verified users had to be:
“authentic, notable and active”
Today, anyone can become verified. It costs you US $96 per year or $8 per month. That is my first problem. Verified Twitter accounts no longer represent figures who are authentic or notable. They are simply users willing to part with $8 per month to receive the blue checkmark next to their user name.
The Race to 500 Followers
Now that users had met one of the monetization criteria — the blue checkmark-they needed to get 500 followers. This led to the popularity of follow-for-follow strategies and communities that promoted following one another to hit the mark.
While I do not have a problem with the spaces and the use of their strategies, I believe that follow-for-follow strategies and gain trains rarely work in building engagement.
Follow me for a follow back
Read one of the Tweets I came across.
Similar to Medium, adopting the follow-for-follow approach does not lead to genuine engagement. You will have followers who never read your work because they are not genuinely interested in you as a creator. It is a misconception that quantity equates to quality.
The strategies somehow worked and users reached their 500-follower requirement.
The Race to 5 Million Impressions
The final requirement was to hit 5 million impressions within the past three months. If you were a genuine creator with minimal engagement in your posts, this would be a mammoth task.
However, it turns out that users had it all figured out. To hit the 5 million impressions, content became diluted on Twitter. The users cared more about getting replies to their posts to generate engagement.
One User complained:
Another argued:
This is my second problem.
Twitter monetization is diluting content creation and changing the motivation for engagement so that it is focused only on generating high impressions that will lead to more ad revenue. The goalposts have indeed changed. However, as long as people keep earning more bucks on X, it might be a minor problem.
There is little I can do about my small problems. Perhaps to keep on following genuine accounts that still focus on posting authentic and valuable content. That might be the only comfort I have.