Twitter's New Revenue Program: Efforts To Retain Creators Amidst Thread Migration

Elon Musk-owned Twitter announced on Friday the launch of the 'Creator Ads Revenue Sharing Programme', an initiative that allows users to earn from ad revenue generated from replies to their posts.

Twitter stated that the purpose of this move is to enable individuals to directly earn a livelihood through the microblogging platform. The emphasis is on providing creators with the flexibility to independently sign up for both advertising revenue sharing and creator subscriptions.

Elon Musk retweeted the company's announcement, which stated, "Surprise! Today we launched our Creator Ads Revenue Sharing Programme. We're expanding our creator monetization offering to include ad 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. We're rolling out the programme more broadly later this month, and all eligible creators will be able to apply."

Eligibility for Creator Ads Revenue Sharing
Any individual user subscribed to Twitter Blue or any verified organization that has had at least 5 million post impressions in each of the last 3 months will be eligible for revenue sharing. The eligibility will be confirmed through a human review, which Twitter refers to as the "creator monetization standards" test.

Procedure after Approvals
According to Twitter, having a 'Stripe account' is mandatory once a user passes the approval test.

A Stripe Account is an Irish-American application programming interface for e-commerce and online businesses. It also offers a Stripe Terminal as a solution for in-person sales. Regarding payments, Twitter stated, "We work with Stripe for payouts and are rolling out to our first batch of creators who have already signed up for creator subscriptions, adhering to our policies."

Where to Apply
Twitter mentioned that the application process is easy but has yet to be launched.

Users can access monetization in their settings to start earning, with the only requirement being to pass the eligibility test. Once passed, creators can apply for both creator subscriptions and creator ads revenue sharing.

Estimated Earnings
Official revenue numbers have not been confirmed by Twitter. However, reports suggest that accounts with over a million followers enrolled in creator subscriptions are currently enjoying payouts ranging from a few thousand dollars to nearly USD 40,000.

Users' Reaction
The announcement received a significant backlash on Twitter, with many expressing their dissatisfaction with the requirement to pay upfront to get paid. Some even referred to it as Twitter's attempt to retain users from migrating to Threads.