X pays you to be annoying. That's not an accident, it's how the payout math works.
Spent three months trying to qualify for X's revenue share and the thing
that stuck with me isn't how hard it is, it's what it rewards.
You don't get paid for the post. You get paid on ad impressions in the
replies. So a post everyone agrees with earns nothing, because agreement
is a like and then they scroll. A post that makes people mad earns,
because now there's forty comments to scroll past.
Then layer on that impressions from Premium users are weighted heavier
than everyone else. So you're not writing for an audience anymore,
you're writing to irritate the specific demographic most likely to be
paying $8 a month. Which is, broadly, people who like arguing on the
internet.
That's the whole feed now. It's not that people got dumber, it's that
the dumbest possible version of a take is the profitable one, and X
built it that way on purpose.
Worst part is it doesn't even pay well. Rates have compressed as more
accounts qualified. You degrade your own posting, alienate people who
actually liked your stuff, and clear a few hundred a month if you're
lucky.
Anyone actually making real money off it, or is everyone just farming
for a payout that isn't there?