As I sit down to write this, I come across two pieces of news. 👇

1. Elon Musk bought Twitter
2. Twitter allows crypto payments for its creators

As memes on Elon Musk are flooding Twitter, hashtags like #twittersold and #leavingtwitter are trending. What’ll happen to free speech is indeed on our minds. Knowing how essential Twitter is in taking the creator economy forward, this news is, as one would call it, a rude awakening.

Earlier last week, Twitter announced its crypto payout news — Twitter has already been paying its creators through Stripe, and in the following weeks, it’ll support crypto payments (USDCoin). As Twitter and Stripe announced this together on Stripe’s blog, creators on Twitter have been raising an ecstatic toast. 🥂

In the same blog post, Esther Crawford, Twitter’s Product Lead for Creators, said 👇

For Starters, What’s Twitter Doing for Creators?

Earlier last year, Twitter introduced Super Follows, allowing users to pay creators for exclusive or bonus content. While this is one way of monetising, when Twitter acquired Revue, we already understood the platform’s interest in democratising the creator economy. Writers and experts can now easily share information, interact, earn and convert through Revue’s newsletters.

Also read: How Twitter is making a better home for writers

Twitter also took its Spaces a notch up and above with Ticketed Spaces, where creators can directly charge users/subscribers for the content. In fact, now Twitter also allows crypto payouts for Spaces; in a blog post, Twitter also said, “You can earn up to 97% of the revenue from Spaces ticket purchases and Super Follows subscriptions. Twitter won’t take more than a 3% share until you exceed $50,000 in lifetime earnings on both products.”

This year, Twitter also integrated analytics into Spaces, enabling creators to tap into the performance.

If you’ve been following Spaces, you already know how they’ve been promoting global creators. And then there’s Twitter Spaces ‘Spark’ Program that supports and funds audio creators. A glimpse of what it’s offering:

• Ad credits and $2,500 every month
• Networking with creators in the Twitter Spaces Spark Program community
• Customise Spaces and have conversations with Twitter product leadership

Of course, there’s more, but what Twitter focuses on is fostering a community of creators. Hosted every year, this program has only had its first batch so far, and Twitter has been actively promoting chosen creators and high-performing Spaces while also including them in its content series.

Here’s what you should know about Twitter Spaces Spark Program.

Spaces, crypto payments, Spaces funds, and Revue — it does look like Twitter is going all guns blazing in taking the passion economy ahead.

Creators are calling in the shots too! Most-followed Twitter creators have already launched courses on Gumroad — some of the popular ones include The Blueprint to Build a 6-Figure Twitter Business, Everyone Can Build a Twitter Audience, and The Art of Twitter: Build a Business That Makes You $100/Day. So if you’re not exactly monetising on Twitter, how you use Twitter can still be monetised. If you’ve had thousands of impressions and growth in the follower rate, surely you can create courses, video content, host Spaces — all things paid to help users demystify your growth.

Personally, I’ve discovered many creators in the web3 space on Twitter itself, and this makes me believe that we’ve truly stepped into the creator economy. Remember when Twitter was launched it was a lot about following and engaging with celebrities? A user can now interact with AR Rahman as much as they can with a TikTok influencer — while that may be the beauty of most social media platforms, Twitter was one of the first mediums that made it possible. It allows you to have a transparent conversation.

Like any social media platform, Twitter also allows sponsored posts and promotions. For those with a great engagement rate and following, there are multiple ways to monetise within the ecosystem itself. Users with about 10K followers can earn anywhere between $80-100 per tweet.

Influencer Marketing Hub offers a calculator for creators to calculate the worth of their tweets. 👇

While Twitter’s insights state branded content on Twitter has more engagement, they also suggest Twitter users spend 24% more time watching an ad from a creator, because they are more genuine and trustworthy. Twitter also allows you to be more authentic — you bring your actual mood to the platform, whether you’re shit-posting or sharing joyous news. You’re relatable, which of course allows you to connect with your users not just on a superficial level.

Besides, it’s where conversations kick off — so, that’s the answer. It's crucial for the creator economy and may it remain that way.