Twitter is promising to share ad revenue with creators, meaning the company can theoretically pay you for your popular tweets.
But there’s a catch: The revenue will only be shared after you first join Twitter Blue, the company’s $8-per-month subscription program.
Company owner Elon Musk introduced the new policy on Friday. “Starting today, Twitter will share ad revenue with creators for ads that appear in their reply threads,” he tweeted. But he was quick to add: “To be eligible, the account must be a subscriber to Twitter Blue Verified.”
In other words, you have to first pay the company at least $8 per month to have any shot of receiving some of the ad revenue. And even then, the earnings could be small.
The revenue won’t come from ads that appear on the main Twitter feed, but from ads that pop up in the reply threads to the creator’s tweet. Hence, a creator would only see revenue from users who end up clicking on their viral tweet to check out the replies.
Musk didn’t mention how much a creator could expect to make from the ad revenue. So it’s also unclear what it would take to earn a profit from the ad-sharing after paying for a Twitter Blue subscription.
Still, the plan shows Musk is trying to think up ways to push users to Twitter Blue, which he’s hoping will drive revenue at the company. Back in December, Musk said Twitter was in the midst of a financial crisis, which has caused him to lay off over half the staff and slash operational costs. In addition, many advertisers have paused spending on the social media platform, which may create doubts about whether Twitter can share meaningful revenue with creators.
In the meantime, Musk is indicating the ad-sharing could woo more creators to Twitter. “More to come on this front. Twitter needs to be where a creator is most highly rewarded for their time and talent,” he wrote in a tweet. Back in November, Musk also indicated he wanted to offer better terms to share ad revenue with creators who post videos over Twitter.