Twitter is paying influencers (a lot!) to stay on its platform as Threads user base grows

Twitter for Mac app running on the MacBook Air

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Twitter has launched its Creator Ads Revenue Sharing program in order to entice creators to stay on the platform following the launch of Instagram's Threads.

Meta's Threads app launched last week and racked up over 100 million users in just a few days. Now, the threat of a competitor looks to have forced Twitter into an interesting move.

On Thursday, Twitter shared the new program in a tweet, "We’re expanding our creator monetization offering to include ads revenue sharing for creators. This means that creators can get a share in ad revenue, starting in the replies to their posts. This is part of our effort to help people earn a living directly on Twitter."

Surprise! Today we launched our Creator Ads Revenue Sharing program.We’re expanding our creator monetization offering to include ads revenue sharing for creators. This means that creators can get a share in ad revenue, starting in the replies to their posts. This is part of our…July 13, 2023

Since that tweet, large Twitter accounts have begun sharing their first Creative Ads Revenue Sharing payment with some numbers shockingly large.

Billy Markus, the founder of Dogecoin, shared his first revenue payment for his 2.1 million follower account, where he earned a staggering $37,050.

i like twitter pic.twitter.com/WRRoKUl3prJuly 13, 2023

Other users on the platform, like Benny Johnson and Ashley St. Clair, have also shared their revenue with payments of $9,546 and $7,153 respectively. St. Clair goes into more detail, highlighting that her 711,000 follower account had 328 million tweet impressions in the last 28 days. "These are awesome payout numbers & I encourage every single creator to share their content here"

FULL TRANSPARENCYMinutes after Twitter announced ad revenue payouts, I received this saying I’ll be paid $7,153For reference, I had 328 million tweet impressions in the last 28 daysThese are awesome payout numbers & I encourage every single creator to share their content… pic.twitter.com/BD4O2QaVXEJuly 13, 2023

🚨BREAKING: Twitter Monetization For Creators Is REAL💰I just received my first ad revenue payment from Twitter.1st check = $10K (!!!)I would typically never share personal financial info but creators need to know that @elonmusk means BUSINESS supporting the creator economy pic.twitter.com/JliTBR2LkGJuly 13, 2023

Your move, Threads

It looks like Elon Musk took the launch of Threads personally and decided that an ad revenue platform for Twitter was the way to entice creators to stay on his platform. The Twitter Creator Ads Revenue Sharing platform requires you to subscribe to Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations and have at least 5m impressions on posts in the last 3 months to be eligible.

We'll see if Threads and Zuckerberg respond to incentivize creators to get on board with Threads as their main social media platform, although that will be tricky, considering the app currently doesn't have any ads, among other huge omissions.

Either way, if you're an influencer, this battle to become the supreme text social media app looks like it could line your wallets and make for some huge paydays.

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.