Pick any social media platform, and you will find that a large percentage of users are content creators while an even bigger percentage of people are their followers. There is no doubt that content creators are the future (and the present) of social media platforms. 

And this means that platforms need to come up with different ways of keeping content creators happy by letting them monetize their posts to prevent them from jumping ship. In order to do this, Elon Musk’s platform X (formerly Twitter) has rolled out a new way for Twitter influencers to make money: the new ad revenue sharing program. 

Let’s find out what this new launch entails, who is eligible, and how it helps content creators. 

What is X’s Ad Revenue Sharing Program?

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter a few months ago, the platform has undergone several major changes. The most notable ones are the name and logo change. 

However, you must also have noticed this new trend of advertisements cropping up under a person’s tweets. In exchange for taking up all the real estate under the tweet, X’s new ad revenue sharing program will share a percentage of that ad revenue with the creators of the tweet.. as long as they are eligible. 

Source: X.

Imagine you have made a normal tweet, as one does. Immediately, you see an advertisement crop up as a reply under your tweet. Based on how much traction your tweet gets, that ad is going to generate revenue. Now, under X’s new ad revenue sharing program, if you are eligible, you get a cut of that ad revenue for yourself! Pretty neat, right?

The main reason X is doing this is to help creators earn a living directly by posting their content on the platform. And the best part is that they don’t even need to brainstorm and shoot a new video/ set of pictures. They can simply earn money by continuing to use the platform. 

Since more impressions on a tweet will earn them more money, it also incentivizes content creators to post tweets that get a lot of engagement. This will directly help X stay on top of the curve. 

Who is Eligible for X’s Ad Revenue Sharing Program?

X’s new ad revenue sharing program is available for content creators globally. To be eligible for this program, your account must:

• Be subscribed to X Premium (previously known as Twitter Blue) or be signed up for Verified Organizations
• Have a minimum of 500 followers
• Have at least 5 million organic impressions on your cumulative posts within the last 3 months

In addition to this, you must also have an eligible Stripe account, X’s official payments processor, to receive the payouts. You must also follow X’s Ad Revenue Share Terms and follow the platform’s Rules and Creator Monetization Standards.

In the beginning of this program’s rollout, content creators needed at least 15 million impressions in the last 3 months to be eligible. But X recently lowered the requirements to allow more people to be eligible for the program. 

How Does The Ad Revenue Sharing Program Work?

Once you find out if your account is eligible, you can join the ad revenue share as well as the creator subscriptions program by following these steps:

• Go to Settings and select the Monetization section.
• Select Join and Setup Payouts. You will be redirected to Stripe.
• Setup a Stripe account, or link to your existing Stripe account.

Aaaaand done! Now you can start posting and you will receive payouts from X regularly as long as you accumulate more than $10 (previously it was $50) in revenue. You should also make sure not to breach any of their guidelines or rules. If you are found in violation of any rules, your participation in the program can be revoked at any time. 

One important thing to note here is that only ad views by other verified/ subscribed accounts count. This means if your tweets (and subsequently the ads) have 8 million views, but only 4 million of them are by verified users, then you will get a payout based on the 4 million views only. This is to stop users from using spam bots to increase their views and get a higher paycheck.

Certain kinds of content are not also permitted and won’t count for the revenue sharing program. These include sexual content, gambling, get rich fast schemes, violence, criminal behavior, alcohol, and drugs.

X also wants creators to eliminate any mention of “Twitter” or “the bird app,” and the platform also has additional plans to crack down on people who just reshare popular content from across the web to gain more impressions. This means your content needs to be original.

What Does This Mean for Content Creators?

X has been marketing the ad revenue sharing program as something that would revolutionize the way content creators earn money, and so far, it certainly looks promising. 

The ad revenue sharing program opens new doors for content creators with enough engagement to make money while continuing to do what they used to do- tweeting. The program also does not discriminate between text and video/ photo content, which is great! This means content creators can still make money without dedicating time and energy into creating videos or photos. Less effort, more money! 

Since the payouts depend on the number of organic impressions a post gets, this will also inspire people to tweet things that will spark discussions/ heated debates, or post content that invokes extreme emotions in people. 

Another way to get more engagement on tweets is by posting questions that users can’t help but answer. For example, posting a video of a scenario where you spot someone in danger, and asking “what are you doing in this situation?” Or even posting things such as “you can get a million dollars, but you need to live on a remote island with no wifi for 3 months. Which one are you choosing?” These hypothetical scenarios are a great way of getting people interested enough to comment, thereby increasing engagement (and payouts).

Back in June, Elon Musk tweeted that the first round of payouts to content creators are estimated to total $5 million. X recently sent out the first round of payments, and true to its word, the payouts have been impressive so far. 

Source: X.

A user, @teslaboomermama, with 80.1k followers, posted that she had tweeted 2,709 times in July which generated more than 10 million views. The payout she received was $698.70 USD. Another user, @krassenstein, a writer with more than 750k followers, posted that X paid him almost $25,000! 

However, X currently does not allow users to verify how many of their impressions are from verified users, so it is unclear how the payouts are being calculated. X is also not transparent about the payment per million impressions, and whether this number changes from person to person. 

Nonetheless, this is a great opportunity for content creators and could very well put X in front of other social media platforms. Have you signed up to X’s ad revenue sharing program yet?