Four X creators' real earnings dissected: $250 vs $26,930 per pay period. The gap comes down to language, format, and engagement.
Every time Musk's payday hits, the timeline turns into an income-sharing spectacle. Some flex, some reflect, some rage.
The standout this cycle: @charliebcurran. Under 30K followers, $26,930 in two weeks.
My cumulative creator earnings sit at $1,508. That's roughly what he makes as a rounding error in one pay period.
Jealousy is useless, so I dug into a few comparable cases and spread the numbers side by side to figure out what actually drives the gap.
@charliebcurran — $26,930 / 2 weeks
Professional film director who pivoted to AI-generated short videos last year. Uses ByteDance's Seedance to produce satirical clips, writing prompts like storyboards. Previous cycle: $3,919. This cycle: $26,930. Top single video: 13.84M views. Under 30K followers.
@_FORAB (AB) — $2,490 / 2 weeks
Chinese-language creator based in Japan. Content covers lifestyle and entrepreneurship. Steady income above $2,000 per cycle. Last four periods: $2,490, $2,421, $3,528, $3,008. The $3,528 spike coincided with Japan's general election—heavy ad spend. After Japan's 20% withholding tax, his net take-home is lower than the headline number.
@Stanleysobest — $2,086 / 2 weeks
28K followers, content on side hustles and personal finance in Greater Bay Area, China. Recent two cycles: $2,086 and $2,017, up sharply—previous six months totaled just $1,000. Recognizable style: emotional short-form posts plus video. A clip about "cars are cash-flow shredders" hit 1.84M views. Replies to virtually every comment. Runs a 2,815-member community.
@runes_leo (me) — ~$250 / 2 weeks
15K followers, covering AI, crypto, and prediction markets. Total earnings: $1,508.71, mostly accumulated in the last two to three months. Almost entirely plain-text tweets. Occasional Articles, minimal English coverage.
Variable 1: Language and geography
X allocates ad revenue by region. Japan, the US, and Canada have higher advertiser bids, making impressions from those markets worth more. AB is based in Japan—even posting in Chinese, his audience includes enough Japanese-region users to push CPM higher. charliebcurran publishes in English to a global audience, naturally lifting CPM. Stanley targets mainland Chinese users but still breaks $2,000—proving geography isn't the only factor.
Variable 2: Content format
X's revenue rules page states explicitly: "Different content types may be valued differently—for example, long-form video or articles are typically weighted more heavily than short-form posts."
charliebcurran is all video—that's the direct driver of his revenue explosion. Stanley also leans heavily into video. I'm almost entirely plain text. Biggest gap right here.
Variable 3: Engagement density
Stanley's approach is simple but effective: reply to every comment. High reply rate → high engagement → algorithmic boost → more impressions → more revenue. charliebcurran's satirical content naturally triggers discussion and reshares. My comment reply rate is low.
Format shift. Longer-form content goes into Articles. Per official rules, Articles carry higher revenue weight than plain tweets. Zero extra effort; starting today.
English coverage. Chinese stays primary, but universal Articles get English versions. English-audience CPM rivals Japanese rates without relocating.
Short video experiment. The revenue weight advantage of video is too clear to ignore. Dual Chinese-English subtitles mean one piece covers two audiences.
Engagement density. Reply more in comment threads, especially substantive discussions.
Every number in this post comes from the creators' own public screenshots. Mine are right here too. A few pay periods from now, I'll come back and check whether the adjustments made any difference.
Thanks to @charliebcurran, @_FORAB, and @Stanleysobest for sharing openly. If any data or claims here are inaccurate, please flag them.