Okay, we have to take a second to investigate the winners of X’s $1 million article competitors, as a result of whereas the outcomes are doubtless as many would count on, with reference to matters that align with Elon’s perspective, the particular winners chosen do completely nothing to change any notion about what X has turn out to be as a platform.
As a fast recap, final month, as a part of a brand new push to get extra creators posting extra content material to the app, and particularly long-form content material, so as to hold individuals studying (and feed extra data into its xAI database), X introduced that the top-performing article for January would win a $1 million money prize.
Which is an enormous carrot, although even then, as I famous on the time, the problem right here can be writing for the X viewers, and creating one thing that might resonate with customers of the app.
You may take a guess at what matters can be extra more likely to resonate, based mostly on broader protection of X, and the way Elon Musk has modified the platform previously referred to as Twitter. And based mostly on the winners, you’d be proper.
Right here’s the full listing of winners in X’s inaugural $1 million article prize:
- The winner was an article on alleged authorities spending corruption through contracts with Deloitte, written by an X person with a historical past of posting racist commentary
- The runner-up appears to be like at Trump’s tariff technique, and the way he’s utilizing volatility as a degree to amass Greenland (X awarded the creator $250k)
- X gave particular point out to a self-help article which appears to be like at methods to improve your focus (X awarded the creator $250k)
X additionally gave 4 extra creators $100k every for his or her contributions:
- An article about welfare fraud in Minnesota
- An article concerning the strategic worth of the U.S. buying Greenland
- An article about how the West ended slavery
- An article about excessive climate patterns within the U.S.
So, yeah, all just about in alignment with Elon’s pet matters, and largely linked to right-wing views.
Nothing shocking, however it’s fascinating simply how a lot this content material skews in the direction of the viewers that you’d count on on X, and underlines, as soon as once more, simply how a lot nearer the platform now’s to Rumble or Reality Social, versus extra mainstream social platforms.
Which had at all times been Elon Musk’s intention, to amplify right-wing views so as to counter the left-wing bias that Twitter, in his view, had. However plainly steadiness might have swayed somewhat too far the opposite approach, and now, X is extra consultant of extremist right-wing viewpoints than extra balanced takes.
Which is why these are probably the most mentioned articles, and what X sees as a substitute for mainstream media.
And I can see why X customers really feel like they’re being knowledgeable and educated by these takes, although I’d query the fondness and educational rigor of a minimum of some parts in these posts.
However total, it’s as anticipated, offering a snapshot of what X customers see as probably the most urgent problems with the day.
X hasn’t introduced a second spherical of prizes for high articles, however it has recommended that it’s exploring additional applications to encourage long-form posting.
