This must be attention-grabbing.
As a part of its renewed effort to get extra creators posting long-form content material to the app, X has introduced that it’s going to pay out one million {dollars} to the creator of the preferred X article posted in the course of the present payout interval, which ends on January thirtieth.
As per X:
“We’re doubling down on what creators on đť•Ź do greatest: writing. In 2026, our purpose is to acknowledge high-value, high-impact content material that shapes dialog, breaks information and strikes tradition.”
X says that the profitable article have to be authentic, be no less than 1,000 phrases in size, and can be judged “totally on Verified Residence Timeline impressions.”
Additionally, solely U.S. customers are eligible.
You additionally, after all, must be an X Premium subscriber, as a result of X’s long-form publishing possibility is simply accessible to paying customers, although X did just lately broaden articles to all X Premium subscribers, not simply Premium+ clients.
Which, based mostly on X’s Premium subscriber numbers, implies that in all probability fewer than 300k customers are eligible for the prize. And with a fraction of these customers really posting long-form content material, your possibilities of turning into a millionaire are literally fairly good. I imply, approach higher odds than the lottery.
So how will you win?
Effectively, the important thing factor to bear in mind right here is that the first standards is verified impressions, or what number of occasions your long-form article is proven to paying X customers. And since the algorithm will present articles to customers based mostly on engagement, that implies that you’ll want to write down one thing that’ll resonate with X’s paying person base.
I do know what you’re pondering, however wanting on the precise X articles knowledge, you could have to do some extra than simply writing one thing that aligns with Elon’s favourite pet matters.
Possibly.
X articles engagement insights from final 12 months, the highest 5 best-performing articles on the platform have been:
- A deep dive into alleged irregularities and accountability points on the Pentagon, sparking discussions on authorities transparency.
- An in-depth exploration of world financial traits, fiscal insurance policies, and funding methods in a unstable market.
- A passionate fan perspective on Tesla’s improvements, management, and future in electrical autos and tech.
- A humorous but pointed satirical tackle present occasions, mixing comedy with social commentary.
- One other entry in Amuse’s sequence of satirical commentaries on politics and tradition, contributing to their main place.
So really, publishing a submit about how authorities regulation is unhealthy, however Tesla is nice, would in all probability be the easiest way to go, as a lot of you could have guessed.
Need a simple $1 million?
I’d counsel writing an article about how Grok is now so nice at inventory market evaluation and prediction you could let it make your inventory buying and selling choices for you, and the way you’ve used this methodology to generate hundreds of thousands utilizing your personal money.
Possibly it’s true, perhaps not, however I assure it’ll hit all the important thing markers for X Premium customers (particularly for those who additionally embody a word about the way you used the money to purchase a Cybertruck).
So, what’s X’s goal right here?
Effectively, as I famous earlier within the month, X could be very eager to get extra long-form content material flowing by its circuits, as a way to broaden on its data financial institution for its xAI tasks. X clearly has a heap of short-form posts to feed into its system, nevertheless it additionally wants longer, extra in-depth reporting, and it’s hoping that it may possibly persuade extra journalists, specifically, to submit extra of their stuff to the app, with a purpose to broaden its insights stream.
But, on the similar time, Elon continues to amplify his many, many private gripes with “mainstream” journalists through his X account, which is essentially the most adopted single profile within the app, whereas his numerous adjustments to the platform have remodeled what was as soon as a key platform for journalists right into a hostile surroundings, which only a few can be seeking to come again to anytime quickly.
Certain, $1 million is an enormous carrot, however the necessity to attraction to paying X customers could be very a lot a complicating issue, which is unlikely to seize the eye of the supposed goal group.
However it’ll result in an inflow of long-form content material, within the short-term no less than, and it may assist to lift curiosity in X posting to some extent. Whether or not it is a one-off prize or a part of X’s longer-term push to make broaden creator payouts is one other issue that may play a component.
My guess could be that some partisan, AI-generated assume piece will take out the prize on the finish of the month, and that X will abandon the idea utterly shortly after, as soon as it finds out that Grok is definitely the author (anticipate Elon to sue the winner with a purpose to recoup the prize cash if that is so).
X will then do what each different platform is doing, signal offers with publishers to feed in additional long-form materials, however for now, X is making an attempt out one other solution to meet two key objectives, in bringing extra content material to the app, and getting extra in-depth writing to enhance its AI outputs.
I think they’ll must do much more to make X a extra interesting residence for high quality long-form content material, however perhaps, throwing sufficient cash at it’ll kickstart a snowball impact for X articles.
