Twitter Starts Ad Revenue Sharing With Verified Creators Amid Competition From Meta's Threads

Twitter has recently made a significant move in the social media landscape by announcing ad revenue payouts for its creators. This long-awaited update comes months after Elon Musk's initial announcement of the monetization program. Twitter users received notifications on Thursday (July 13, 2023) afternoon about receiving payouts as their share of the platform's ad revenue for the content they have created or posted. Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, known as Shibetoshi Nakamoto on Twitter received the highest payout of $37,00. While more creators eagerly await their payouts, Twitter is also facing increased competition from Meta's Threads app and a decline in traffic, per Newsweek. 

Twitter's Ad revenue payout program

Twitter has started notifying its Twitter Blue subscribers that they will soon see payouts from the monetization program, per Elon Musk's February announcement. The revenue-sharing program is initially available only to users who pay for a Twitter Blue subscription and is driven by ads placed in the replies to tweets. The payout amounts range from a few thousand dollars to nearly $40,000 for accounts with a few million followers. Twitter has stated that it will expand eligibility to more creators later this month. However, the exact criteria for determining payouts and Twitter's revenue share remain undisclosed.

Notable payouts and accumulated earnings

YouTub content creator Benny Johnson revealed that he is eligible to make nearly $10,000 through the program. Another account, @Elon_alerts which shares Elon Musk's activity on Twitter reported a payout of around $2,200. Elon Musk himself confirmed that the payouts are cumulative from February 2023 when the program was first announced. Users are receiving payouts through their Stripe accounts, which they used to register for Creator Subscriptions.

Who qualifies for the revenue-sharing program?  

To benefit from Twitter's ad revenue program, users must have over five million tweet impressions per month for the last three months. They also need an active subscription to Twitter Blue or verification for organizations. The program's revenue share will be retroactive to February 3, as announced by Elon Musk. Other monetization creator standards on Twitter include being 18 years of age or older, having an account with a complete profile and verified email address that has been active for at least 3 months, living in a country where the monetization program is in place and owning a profile that is not a state-affiliated media account.

Content guidelines for creators sharing revenue  

Sexual content is prohibited from being commercialized per Twitter’s guidelines for monetizing content. Twitter has clarified that it would disapprove of pyramid schemes or get-rich-quick schemes, per Technext. It also does not monetize violence or criminal activity, drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Creators caught making money off copyrighted content they do not own would be banned from ads revenue share.

Potential drawbacks of the program

Some concerns have been raised regarding the 5 million tweet impressions requirement as it may deter smaller creators. The Tech Outlook suggests that this criterion could incentivize the posting of controversial content to generate more replies from other users. Twitter influencer Farzad Mesbahi reacted to the revenue-sharing news with, “The more haters you have in your replies the more money you’ll make on Twitter.” “Poetic justice,” Musk tweeted in reply. 

Threat to Twitter's dominance: Threads

Twitter's announcement of ad revenue payouts comes at a time when the platform's dominance is being challenged. Meta's recently launched Threads app has gained significant traction, with 100 million users signing up within days. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, highlighted Threads' resemblance to Twitter and its potential to become a top rival. To address concerns about data scraping and system manipulation, Elon Musk announced limitations on the number of tweets users can read per day. This strategy is intriguing for a platform reliant on advertising revenue. Additionally, Cloudflare data shows a decline in Twitter traffic since January 2023, suggesting the need for innovative measures to maintain its user base.