I Got Paid by X! Here's My 5 Million Blueprint
After 5 years of being on here, I finally hit 5 million impressions and got monetized on X! 🥳
I don’t need to explain how challenging this platform can be. If you’ve been sharing your progress and struggles, I see you. It’s not easy. But this first pay cheque? Felt fcking good.
Now, before I tell you HOW I did it (so you can do it faster than I did), I want to tell you WHY.
Why X Matters To Me
Firstly: I love X I found my people here and I am not going anywhere. This is where I want to be and where I believe we can build a better tomorrow. Real talk though, there were some really dark days I wanted to end it. But this small Web3 community saved me more times than I can count.
I wouldn’t be here without them. And, by extension, I wouldn’t be here without X, flaws and all.
Why did I want to get monetised?
Because I’ve spent an ungodly amount of time on this app. Sharing my Art. Teaching. Encouraging. Advocating tools + knowledge so artists can build creative careers too.
There were months I was on here 15+ hours a day, taking breaks to ice my wrists, sleep 30 mins, then come straight back online. Terrible for my mental health. Also weirdly fun. And it paid off in ways that weren’t just money.
Did I put in the work? Absofuckinglutely. Does that entitle me to anything anymore? Absofucking not. I knew I had to do more if I wanted more.
I was recently part of @Rachelwilkins @Creatorfi_ cohort and I remembered something important:
Don’t let external metrics dictate your motivation.
I show up because I want to show up for people like me. People who want to live with more audacity, more curiosity, and who refuse to accept the world as-is.
I never chased collector attention game. And I don’t follow the classic 'niche down and be consist' alpha either. I’m too wild for that. Too discombobulated to be that organized and structured.
Does it hurt me in the algorithm? Yes. Does it stunt my Art career? Probably. But I’m proud of why I do things and how I do them.
So before I get into how you can get to 5 million impression, let's start at the beginning: The Decision
Every new year, I reflect and realign. Not to make short-lived new year resolutions, but intentional decisions I live by going forward.
2026 is the year I stop holding myself back because of self doubts. Because I don't want to die with the regret of waiting to live.
So why did I want to get monetised?
Not for the money, I assumed I’d make maybe $100 because I post sporadically and my engagement isn’t huge.
I wanted to do this as proof that I can succeed at something even if I didn't think I could do it.
Go Puffin Do IT
You’re a reflection of the five people you spend the most time with, and luckily I am surrounded by frens who inspire me everyday. In December, I saw the algorithm changes and my friends grinding to the 5M milestone quickly. Their wins lit a fire under me and here we are.
Now I’m going to tell you what I did, and what I’d recommend other creatives do.
Some of this will sound “wrong” compared to what others have said. But I am here to tell you that there are many paths to success.
*Nothing I say is legal, financial, or medical advice. READY? LET'S GO!
Dancing Duo
The Blueprint:
1) The goal
Hit 5 million impressions within a 3-month window. That’s views on your posts and your replies. Impressions do not include any likes or comments you get. (There are other requirements, but this is the one most people struggle with.) 2) The strategy
Most accounts won’t reach 5M from their own posts alone, even if you post nudes or the most ridiculous memes you can find.
So no, didn’t rage post and offend the community you have built. Save those bridges for after you get monetized.
Instead, build on the shoulders of giants.
The move is simple: Reply under very large accounts within minutes of them posting. Those reply views count towards your 5M.
But Rachel, WHERE DO I FIND POSTS TO REPLY TO?
1. For Premium accounts you can find posts that are already taking off : Go to Creator Studio → Tools → Trending Tweets, then sort by likes/replies/views, etc.
There are also big-account lists (I’ll link two below). If you have 10 minutes, you can refresh the list to see the most recent posts and comment.
list overlaps a bit with
. I’d follow Dino’s list first since it has more accounts, but having both doesn’t hurt. Unknown's List
https://x.com/i/lists/1951669300458119312?s=20
Dino's List
https://x.com/i/lists/1856153448649236817?s=20
*if you want, build your own list (sports is huge and less depressing than politics) but this is a lot of work, and the whole post of this article is to do less work... Again, don't sully your own timeline by trying to make viral posts yourself, become a reply guy for a short bit and you will get there MUCH faster.
2) Commenting Myths (and what actually works)
A) Timing You don’t need to be the first. A good rule of thumb is to comment to posts made within the past hour.
But for the record: some of my best comments (800k impressions) I made hours after the thing was posted. Beware that commenting a lot of the similar replies can get you shadowbanned. Although I don't know for certain, if you are acting like a spam reply bot, the algos will mark you as a bot and thus your reply reach plummets... which is the opposite of what you want. Do small batches, mix it up, some days I commented a lot over a few hours, others I just randomly hopped on to make a few comments and them signed off.
B) Your comment don't need to be smart or mean. It needs to tie into a emotion wave.
You don’t need a long winded in depth thesis. You don’t need mean or controversial political takes.
You can:
agree + add a gif
ask a simple question or make an obvious statement
be funny or sarcastic
drop a one-line zinger
Or @ Grok with a question related to post (I didn’t see this outperform consistently, but it’s an option and fun to mix it up)
Politics and sports pull insane views (at least in the US time zones). So read the room, are people heated? Is the post causing outrage or fear, confusing, or other extreme feelings? Is there a trending topic in the news that is causing a lot of emotions to run high? Twitter is where people vent and comment it out.
Important: turn off notifications for anyone who doesn’t follow you. Let trolls boost your engagement under your reply, but don’t feed them with your attention.
Protect your peace!
Everyone loves yelling “quality content”. I agree, aim for quality... BUT not for this 5M grind.
For this sprint: Turn off your perfectionist brain. Use AI if you need to. Don’t overthink this. Just post and go.
C) You do NOT need to make hundreds of comments every day for 3 months
Some people comment for a few hours, for 2–3 days, then the algo keeps boosting their replies even when they slow down. I can’t prove this happens for everyone, but I can tell you this:
I did not reply hundreds of times a day and I still hit 5M within a pretty short time period.
Again, don’t spam. If you comment like a bot, X can treat you like a bot, deboost you, and tank your impressions reach.
Be human. Don’t shadowban yourself. Instead, focus on when and where you comment. It’s a waste of your time if the post is only getting a few hundred views and no engagements.
Available on
Before I replied, I checked:
How long ago was it posted?
Is it already taking off?
Big accounts will retweet something from 14 hours ago. Don’t bother commenting under that.
The emotional wave is gone.
Aim for posts that are going viral fast. Commenting less + higher-view posts = less effort grinding to 5M.
How to spot a winner: If a post was made 10 minutes ago and has 1,000 impressions with 2 comments? I skip it, there is no emotional investment people have for that content. If a post was made 3 minutes ago and has 5k impressions and a lot of comments? I am joining the fray!
No worrying over things I can't really control. Just better allocation. Minimal work, higher ROI.
I made a simple Venn diagram here to help you visualize. Aimed for 2 out of 3 signals to avoid wasting time on dead posts. It's not perfect but it stopped me bleeding hours into writing low-impression replies.
Here is some info for those who have gotten monetized and want to keep making money:
At of the time of posting this, this is the most recent thread of information by
Creators
@XCreators
·
2026 is the year of the creator on 𝕏. We closed 2025 with the highest payouts since our monetization program launched and we are just getting started. This year, our focus is clear: empower creators to grow on 𝕏 and earn more. Here is what we’ve already rolled out this year
Show more
Follow
as he is head of products at X and shares updates there as well. You can also follow
for he is a good resource for deep dives into the algorithms and updates as well.
Red Eye Flight Edition on Manifold
Now for some analytics from my own account to highlight things I want every creator to know
*for this breakdown, I’m using Impressions as the baseline. Like I mentioned above, in December, the algos changed a LOT. I started the reply grind in mid December.
Impressions Vs Replies
Before December I had a lot of replies with less views. After the algo change, I had less replies, BUT a lot more views (because impression came from commenting).
There is something to RTs and sharing posts you like to boost their reach (just note, RT's don't bump your reach, only original post reach. QTs engagements towards your account).
In this next graph, you can see how my engagement dropped
When I went on the reply guy rampage mid December, my engagement went down despite my impressions going way up. This was expected so I didn't panic.
I have said this many times, but will say again, LIKES are a vanity metric. You should ignore how many like you get and focus on WHO is liking your posts... Are the right people seeing and engaging with you? Views = reach and most accounts I see need to stop worrying about likes, and instead put effort towards getting in front of the right people. To start, that means aiming for better impressions, not more hearts.
In the beginning, focus on getting in front of more people so that you can be seen by people who like your work. The following chart surprised me, despite my impressions going way high (due to my commenting grind) my new followers trend remained fairly consistent.
At the end of the day, I didn’t do this to prove anything to the internet. I did it to prove something to me.
That I can be scared and still move. That I can be messy and still build. That I can love art, love people, love freedom and still learn how the game works without becoming the game.
If you’re a creative reading this thinking you’re “too late” or “too inconsistent” or “not built for the algorithm”… good. That just means you’re still human.
So take what’s useful from my process. Ignore the rest. Keep your soul. Protect your peace. Play the long game.
And when you hit the milestone, don’t minimise it! Let it count. Let it mean something. Then go do something that reminds you why you started this in the first place. GN Rachel