Reason #1 - X is rapidly becoming the best place for creators to build an audience AND earn money

Compare X to other platforms.

LinkedIn got stuck in the professional world (not necessarily a bad thing). Facebook and Instagram got greedy and drowned their audience in ads. YouTube got saturated.

For a while there, Twitter was stuck in a weird spot. By not defining itself as anything, it... well, wasn't clearly useful for anything. Meeting people maybe? Twitter was a little bit of everything.

Now, the path is clear.

It's going to double down on CREATORS.

(And reward people who want to build an audience.)

The new CEO revealed that people who CREATE will take the front seat in the future. That means people who want to build an audience can and will be able to do so.

Check this quote from a leaked text message:

"Splitting revenue...could be a huge unlock. We could literally give video creators 100% of their ad revenue up to $1m then do split."

He was talking about video creators there, but in slide decks to investors, the new CEO made it clear writers will win as well. That's why he intends to launch Twitter blog posts as well as tweets. (Expected any day now)

As one of my students, Donna said: 

“Look, you can build a business on Twitter alone.” 

And... I've seen it happen already. I've seen nobodies become 6 and 7 figure creators on X in under a year. Sometimes less.

Twitter is already a great place to build a business. And now, it’s actively building infrastructure to pay out EVEN MORE to creators than almost any other platform.

Don't miss this.

YouTube shares ad revenue.

Medium shares subscription revenue.

X is planning to share BOTH ad revenue AND subscription revenue with people who post on their platform.

People like you and me.

Hello extra income. 

Once you make some extra income, you'll be less fearful of layoffs and recessions.

Once you're less afraid, you'll have the option to quit your job, dial back your working hours, or build an automated side hustle.

Whatever your long-term goals are, they can start with Twitter.

Reason #2 - X has over 500 million users

500 million is a conservative estimate. We know for sure it’s over half a billion users. That's a big freaking opportunity. And the new opportunity we’re discussing here will likely make it much higher.

Ask yourself: What could I do if I had the attention of 500 million people?

I bet the answer is: a WHOLE DAMN LOT.

Skeptics are saying "Tim, I'll never reach all 500 million people on X." You're right! You probably won't.

But imagine if you reached 1% of that user base, 1 time. That's "only" five million people.

If you reach 0.1%, that's a "little bitty" group of 500,000 people.

If you reach 0.01%, that's a "teensy weensy" sliver of 50,000 people.

Should I stop?

Nah. One more.

If you reach ONLY 0.001% of X's user base, that means you still get the eyeballs of 5,000 people.

That's 5x more than technology expert Kevin Kelly says you need.

For many of you, 5,000 people is enough. For some of you, 500 is enough. For some of you, 5 might be enough. Again, I'll ask: If you were given a pool of 500 million people, don't you think you could make something happen?

I'm thinking so.

Now, for the super skeptics, one more level of detail.

If you really know your stuff, you know YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok all have more daily users than X.

But if you really, REALLY know your stuff, you know these platforms have a sketchy history. YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok have all made big algorithm changes in the last seven years that sent creators from the spotlight to the dumpster overnight.

Literally.

Reason #3 - The CEO shift has everyone rethinking the platform

Social networks follow a predictable pattern:

(This is dense, but it’s the best way I can say it)

—

Phase One 

The "early adopters" jump on the platform. They look for like-minded individuals. They fill up their feeds with new and interesting people. They post a few times to see how the site works. Important: MANY potential platforms NEVER get past Phase One.

Phase Two

More people join the platform. A "network effect" begins to take hold. Consumers enjoy all the new and fresh content. Creators find a fresh audience. Certain individuals begin to stand out.

Phase Three

The platform is established. More and more consumers rush in. Guess who benefits most from that rush? That's right: the creators who established themselves in Phase One and Phase Two. The algorithm makes sure of it. During this phase, consumers start getting set in their ways. They are much less likely to follow new people. Their feeds are full.

Phase Four

The platform is mostly saturated. Consumers have WAY more information than they can handle. They are almost completely set in their ways. The algorithm makes it harder and harder for new people to get seen.

—

Most platforms you can think of are deep in Phase Four. 

Phase Four never ends (as far as I can tell). Once the patterns are set, and the number of creators is high, it's more difficult to get "big wins" for little effort.

UNLESS they hit the reset button.

That’s what X has just done.

What happened when Twitter's new CEO came on board? Do you remember?

Yep. Lovers of the “status quo” threw a fit. They swore off the platform and jumped ship to Mastadon or some other infant, unproven platform in Phase One.

What does that mean?

It means there is now a gaping hole in people's feed.

It means the users (all 500 million of them) have been forced to rethink who they follow and who they don't.

When they start looking for new people, why shouldn't they find you?

Reason #4 - Elon Musk

I can't possibly leave you without addressing the elephant in the room.

The big, PayPal-founding, Tesla-owning, Twitter-ranting elephant.

Now, look. I'm not here to defend the guy. There's no room for that here, and I probably can't change your mind about him anyway.

The way I see it, everything you use is built by a human. Sometimes that human is wonderful. Sometimes that human is terrible. Bezos cheated on his wife. Bill Gates visited an ex-girlfriend for a sexy rendezvous each year in his marriage. Steve Jobs was a dictator at Apple. Zuckerberg is… well, you know that one.

When it comes to opportunity, the people who create it matter much, much less than the service or product they offer.

Odds are, you willingly fork over money to Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and all the rest. And it's also likely you gritted your teeth and took money from a crappy boss because you wanted the cash to fund your long-term goals.

That’s called: smart.

This is what I’m asking you to do now.

Elon owns Twitter. That's a fact.

Since 2023 started, he's also rolled out all 3 platform changes he promised. That's also a fact. There’s no reason to believe this trend will stop. 

ALSO, he's going to step down as CEO in a matter of months. He announced this willingly.

I humbly suggest you see an opportunity for what it is, 

and use it to improve your life.

Reason #5 - X is the best “meeting place” for ambitious people.

You can reach anyone on X, right now.

I've personally grown my network like gangbusters there, meeting with creators who have a combined 3.5 million followers. (I'll talk about some of them more down below)

More importantly, you can connect with people who CARE ABOUT what you care about.

My friend Todd Brison is a super-writing nerd. In his little nerdy universe, he's directly connected with his favorite movie critic, the co-founder of Kickstarter, a Stanford professor leading the Artificial Intelligence conversation, a marketer that worked for Google and HubSpot, a video editor who worked for ESPN, HGTV, and the CMAs

(Apparently the CMAs are a big deal in Tennessee, America where he's from.)

My point is: not only can you go WIDE with your network on Twitter. You can also go SUPER deep and form advantageous friendships that launch you forward.

Reason #6 - X is going to pay creators directly.

This is not guessing. 

This is not speculation. 

This is not “it’s in the pipeline”. 

It’s happening already.

Elon has shipped everything else that he’s talked about.

Just like YouTube, X is paying out some of the ad revenue to creators on the platform.

But wait, there’s more.

Because they are also paying out some of the subscription revenue from Twitter Blue.

Let me be super clear on this.

On Twitter, the path to money looked like this:

Write tweets -> Put a link in your bio -> Hope that people click on it -> Hope that people join your list -> Build a product -> Sell it to those people -> Hope they buy it.

On X, the path to money looks like this:

Write tweets -> Earn money.

This move might put certain other greedy platforms out of business.

It will definitely change the entire game for online writers.