In a remarkable development, Elon Musk has rebranded popular social media platform Twitter’s subscription service, Twitter Blue to X Premium. Launched initially as a service for users to buy blue checkmarks for their profiles, X Premium has now evolved to incorporate an ad revenue sharing model.
Only those X-Premium subscribers with at least 15 million impressions on their posts in the last 3 months, and 500 followers minimum, will be eligible for ad revenue. The individual must also be at least 18 years old, and Musk explicitly mentioned that revenue generated from non-subscribers would be retained by the platform.
Interestingly, ad revenue is shared based on adverts posted in the comments of user tweets rather than the main feed; a model quite similar to TikTok. This move is perceived to stimulate more comment and reply activities under user posts, raising questions on whether this revenue model could deter the quality of engagements.
Musk began sharing ad revenue unexpectedly last month, leading to various Twitter users reporting that they had received their share of the revenue. However, merely a week later, the X support account announced that they were overwhelmed by the number of premium subscribers, indicating potential scaling issues which may delay payouts to eligible accounts.
Elon Musk’s ambitious vision aims to transform X into a “super app” reminiscent of the multi-faceted champions WeChat or Gojek. He launched a Twitter Blue subscription allowing users to purchase blue tick verification marks. This product has since evolved into a premium service that allows subscribers to earn a slice of the ad revenue pie.
On the other hand, one can’t shake off the lurking scepticism about whether this revenue model could prompt unwholesome content creation and interaction, merely to attract more comments. Also, scalability concerns might also affect the timeliness of ad revenue payouts to deserving users.
On the whole, though the ad revenue model seems enticing, only time will tell if Musk’s bold strategy succeeds in meeting user expectations, holding their interest, and most crucially, ensuring a seamless, timely payout process.
Source: Cointelegraph
