Twitter To Start Paying Content Creators For Ads In Replies

For the first time, users of the social media platform will be compensated for the advertisements that appear in their replies. In a tweet on Friday, billionaire Elon Musk announced that Twitter would start sharing ad revenue with verified creators for the ads that run next to their Tweets. The initial payment pool will be around $5 million, he added.

The move is designed to encourage more people to create and post high-quality, relevant tweets on Twitter. It also signals that the company is taking steps to bolster its advertising sales after losing several big-ticket advertisers in January and February this year because of changes it made to how it moderates content on the site. In addition to paying for ads in reply threads, the company is implementing a new “brand safety” campaign that will prompt advertisers when their ads appear near unsafe or inappropriate.

Despite its vast reach, Twitter has never been a profitable business. It’s lost more than $1 billion in the last two years. The ad losses have mainly been caused by the site’s inability to turn users into paying customers. It’s also been hampered by a lack of diversity in its user base and an overabundance of trolls and other unsavory elements.

Last October, Tesla CEO, and Twitter owner Elon Musk bought the company for $1.4 billion. The deal was the third largest in social media history then, but Twitter struggled to make it a successful enterprise. In 2022, the company accounted for just 1% of global digital ad spending, according to Insider Intelligence data.

The company lost millions of dollars in ad revenue in the first quarter of this year after several significant advertisers pulled their campaigns due to concerns about Twitter’s moderation policies and Elon Musk’s decision to step down as CEO. In June, Twitter hired former PepsiCo CMO Kathy Savitt as its new chief marketing officer to restore ad sales and make the platform more attractive to advertisers.

Musk’s return to the CEO role has been fraught with controversy. He’s ousted several executives and reportedly plans to cut 75% of the company’s employees. He also recently tweeted a fake account of President Trump and vowed to reinstate the president’s permanently banned Twitter account, drawing outrage among liberal commentators and sparking fears that the site could become an online cesspool for hate speech.

On Friday, Musk addressed the speculation about his plans for Twitter by saying, “Twitter will focus on improving product and monetization. Initially, this will mean increasing the speed and quality of Twitter’s platform and ensuring we continue to make safety and security our top priorities.” The site will also add features like an edit button and a feature allowing users to share videos with up to 10 others. The changes are expected to take effect next week.