Elon Musk has introduced yet another monetization opportunity
for creators on Twitter. Creators that are either subscribers of Twitter Blue
or have purchased the blue verification check, will be paid for “ads served in their
replies.”
In a few weeks, X/Twitter will start paying creators for ads served in their replies. First block payment totals $5M.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2023
Note, the creator must be verified and only ads served to verified users count.
On the other hand, Twitter has reduced ad exposure in the For You and Following timelines by 50%. This is not to be mixed with the recent monetization update, since the number of ads shown in replies remains unchanged, regardless.
The current number of subscribers of Twitter blue is
700,000. The first block payment as a result of ads in replies, according to
Musk, adds up to $50, which, when calculated, is a fraction of the overall revenue
produced from Twitter Blue subscribers.
Moreover, each user will be bringing $7.14 to Twitter, and
so, roughly, if all Twitter Blue subscribers were to post content that generated
an equal number of ads in their replies, each one on an average would be getting
only about $2.38, which is not a lot. However, creators that will be seeing more
replies will be making more money. Even then, their total amount would
only be enough to make up for their monthly subscription cost.
To ensure greater number of replies, creators would now
start considering ways that spark more discussions. For instance, increased sharing
or triggering / emotional conversations produce the most responses. According
to a research related to social media conducted by Harvard Business, “negative
emotions contributed to higher virality.” We could therefore be soon seeing
more argumentative content on Twitter than before.
