Elon Musk has made numerous changes to Twitter, making it anything but the old version of Twitter. The social network, which was previously text-oriented, has today become a platform first videostopped prioritizing urgent, quality content to increase virality and streams (literally) from paying users. In addition to having a bigger speaker, paying users can make money by broadcasting and creating interactions, and today the system has changed. And it did so in a way that put X at risk of becoming an interaction farm.

how to earning I made money at X. Until now, X had been paying paying users (only Premium and Premium+, not all) based on the number of ads that appeared in replies to their posts. What does this mean? The greater the virality, the greater the number of comments, the more advertising in the replies, and the greater the revenue. Total simple.

Well done. It was like this until now, but the platform changed the system. The company announced the “biggest update” of its creator payment program via a “statement” posted by the official X account. “Payments are increasing, and you will no longer be paid based on ads in responses, but based on Premium users’ engagement with your content,” the platform says. As explained in the description:

“Ads in replies will no longer affect your payment. Instead, you will be paid based on how Premium users interact with your content. So when your followers subscribe to

Users paying users… Of course, that’s one way to look at it. According to one view, after this change, users pay Premium in order to receive and be rewarded for published content.

The first replies to any tweet always, always, always come from Premium accounts.

…or not. Another perspective is that X is now a little more relaxed about paying. Previously, if you were verified and your followers/contacts who engaged with your content were not verified, you would get paid based on the virality of the post. Not now. Now a post can go viral forever, but if only non-premium users engage with it, its creator will not make money.

In other words, interactions that previously defined how “valuable” a post is are now useless and have begun to turn into a means of making money. Moreover, the creator itself has now become a marketing tool.

One of many Premium accounts that generate engagement based on third-party content.

“They will work for me but…”. With this new move, X is definitely turning into an interaction farm. The larger one should be noted. Content ceases to be valuable on its own and becomes valuable based on how much engagement it generates. So what content creates engagement? Controversial, provoking debate, anger, or argument.

Posting a viral video with a controversial opinion or something that will create controversy, stolen memes, cat videos, or viral TikToks downloaded without a watermark without even quoting the creator is more “profitable” than anything else.

By the way, did you see my free OF in the link in bio?

But not even that. Because even viral and/or controversial content has no value unless the users who see and respond to it subscribe to Premium. What’s the problem? Data on how many users are Premium is not publicly available. The only official data is “how X Premium is growing”, which X states in its aforementioned statement.

It’s growing, but by how much? What percentage of X users are premium? Because yes, when you enter the replies to a post, the accounts that appear at the top are accounts belonging to premium users. Normally they pay for this, but having a lot of verified users in replies to a post is not synonymous with a lot of Premium users on X or that person being followed by a lot of Premium users or anything. All.

The current state of X. According to X’s official data, the platform’s usage data is at the highest level in history. In the third quarter of 2024, the number of monthly active users reached 547.9 million, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year. How many premiums? Reply to this post with 💡 and mention two friends to find out. I would say typical interaction farm regarding changes.

The current estimate of its value is $9.4 billion, according to Fidelity. There is a decrease of nearly 80 percent.

Image | Xataka

in Xataka | I’ve been on Threads since the day it was released, and despite everything, it seems like a much friendlier platform than Twitter.