If you want to make money on Threads, it's possible, the creators say, but there's currently no clear roadmap for how to do it. Even those making thousands of dollars a month say they don't know how it works …
Content creators told Engadget that the biggest mystery is how to get invited to monetize their content in the first place.
Meta introduced the invite-only program in April, but shared only limited details about how it works […] None of the creators who spoke to Engadget knew how or why they were chosen for the rewards program, even though they all had established Instagram followings. (One of the known requirements is having a professional Instagram account.)
A photographer making $500 a month says she's at least found a foolproof way to do it.
Her strategy, she says, is all about replies. She focuses solely on responding to other users’ posts rather than creating her own. “I don’t necessarily create content myself,” she explains. “I kind of activate other people’s content.” She claims that by focusing on replies, she can reach the required 60 threads with at least 750 views each to qualify for the $500 monthly bonus.
But the artist, who qualifies for the $5,000 tier, says he hasn’t been able to develop a strategy to reach it.
Josh Kirkham, an artist who specializes in Bob Ross-style painting videos […], couldn’t find any patterns in what types of videos are most likely to be popular. He has more than 150,000 followers on Threads, but like other creators in the rewards program, he relies on the app’s recommendation algorithm to get his posts noticed. “At first, I’d post videos about mountains, and they’d do the most compared to everything else,” he says. “Then, after a week, every mountain video would just be a dud. Sometimes videos that I thought would do well end up not doing well at all, and vice versa.”
Others are frustrated that spam content and divisive posts seem to be rewarded by the algorithm while high-quality content isn’t.
“Replies to threads that have a lot of comments or discussion are what get me more bonus views, which is also frustrating because there’s a lot of clickbait,” [said one photographer].
Meta has said it’s trying to reduce the effectiveness of clickbait and spam in its recommendation system.
Photo: Azamat E on Unsplash
