How exaggerated is the "traffic calculation" on platform X?

Have you ever noticed that a random tweet on X can garner hundreds of thousands of views, but actual interactions are surprisingly few? What secrets are hidden behind this phenomenon?

Recently, while browsing tweets on X, I discovered an interesting pattern—the same topic discussed by different accounts shows astonishingly high view counts for some, yet the actual likes and retweets are far below expectations. This piqued my curiosity: Is Twitter creating “fake traffic”?

The Truth About “Traffic Calculation”: Impressions Instead of Views

The way X calculates traffic differs from our usual understanding. X’s method is much more lenient—each time a tweet appears on a logged-in user’s device screen, it counts as 1 impression, even if the user doesn’t notice the tweet at all.

In other words, when you scroll through your feed, if an algorithm recommends a tweet to your timeline, it counts as 1 impression. Even if you don’t look at it and just scroll past, it still counts. This applies not only to recommended content in the timeline but also in search results, viewing a user’s historical tweets, and other scenarios—these “scroll +1” impressions are all included.

More interestingly, this counting isn’t “the only” method—if the same tweet appears multiple times on a single user’s screen, each appearance adds to the total impressions. So, if you open a creator’s dashboard on X, you’ll see the term “impressions” rather than “views.”

X’s traffic calculation mainly measures post exposure, not actual engagement (such as likes, retweets, or comments), although the latter better reflects genuine interaction.

Why Do Other Platforms Have Different Thresholds?

Comparing with other social media platforms reveals that each defines “effective views” differently.

Threads’ traffic calculation is almost identical to X’s, focusing on post exposure rather than actual engagement. YouTube, which emphasizes video content, has a much higher threshold—requiring over 30 seconds of watch time for a view to be considered valid. This makes sense because longer videos have more substantial content, so a 30-second watch is a reasonable minimum.

On TikTok, short videos’ traffic calculation is similar to X’s—if a video appears on a user’s screen, it counts as 1 view, even if the user scrolls past without watching, especially on autoplay recommendation pages.

The Logic Behind the “Exaggeration”

The ability for everyone to see the view count of a tweet was introduced after Elon Musk acquired Twitter. Previously, only the author could see the tweet’s view count. Musk explained the reason for this change via a tweet:

“Twitter is much more active than it appears because 90% of Twitter users only view without posting, liking, or commenting.”

At that time, Twitter had just been acquired by Musk, followed by large-scale layoffs and controversies over the “Blue V” paid subscription. The “Twitter is dead” mockery was rampant. It’s hard to believe Musk’s decision to open up traffic data wasn’t a form of “retaliation.”

According to reports, some Twitter employees previously stated that the reason for not revealing view counts was “it’s hard to determine whether a tweet has been genuinely read or just scrolled past.” Clearly, defining whether a tweet has been “effectively read” is inherently difficult.

While Musk may have had a “retaliation” motive, he also told the truth. For tweets, simplifying traffic metrics is actually necessary because many tweets (like memes) don’t require deep user engagement—they focus on the broadest top of the funnel—attracting as many users as possible.

Prioritizing exposure over deep interaction, and high visibility over deep reach, are what X and Musk value most.

Finding “Truth” in “Exaggeration”

Of course, if creators only pursue high visibility, they might fall into another extreme—focusing on quantity over quality. Over time, X could also decline due to low-quality content.

Therefore, traffic metrics are not the only key indicator creators should pursue. Most creators work hard to produce content with the goal of monetization. For them, income is a measurable reward that motivates high-quality content creation. Traffic is like a rest stop in a marathon—congratulations on covering a long distance and leading many others; keep going.

Having the ability to monetize is the first step. Building traffic is essential, but even with high views, if the content doesn’t attract advertisers—such as by appealing to sensitive topics or riding trending hot topics temporarily—the income will still be zero.

On Twitter, “creator revenue sharing” is clearly a compass for finding “truth” amid “exaggeration.” To measure a creator’s influence, revenue sharing is far more important than just traffic. Because to qualify for Twitter’s creator revenue sharing, traffic is just a threshold and one of the indicators to help creators produce viral content.

Twitter’s Creator Revenue Sharing was launched in July 2023. Former CEO Linda Yaccarino revealed in May 2024 that over $50 million had been paid out in creator revenue sharing.

The True Threshold for Creator Revenue Sharing

To qualify for creator revenue sharing, the first step is meeting the requirements—verified identity, subscribing to Twitter Premium, having at least 500 Premium followers, and accumulating at least 5 million impressions within 3 months.

But as mentioned earlier, traffic calculation is just the beginning. Revenue sharing is based on verified (Premium) interactions with tweets (such as likes and replies), and also considers the influence of different content types like articles, videos, Spaces, and live streams.

Therefore, on Twitter, we see creators with many followers earning thousands of dollars per month, as well as creators with fewer followers but high-quality content earning similarly. This shows that on X, the real determinants of income are content quality and user interaction, not just raw traffic.

In October last year, Twitter announced that the source of revenue sharing would no longer be based on ad revenue in comment sections but on subscription income from Twitter Premium members. This move aims to encourage more high-quality creators—let’s grow the platform together. The more people pay Twitter, the more we pay creators.

In November this year, Twitter launched a new feature called “Bangers,” which periodically selects high-quality tweets based on actual engagement and awards the creator with a “Bangers” badge. This “tweet hall of fame” feature provides another basis for finding “truth” amid “exaggeration.”

Conclusion

Perhaps our current environment best proves that “courage is the most important quality for success.” The first step for creators is “bravely expressing themselves,” which is also a core trait of a qualified creator.

In the era where live commerce and self-media have quietly transformed the work ecosystem for years, we often say, “Traffic equals money.” But the first step to making money is the traffic calculation behind the screen—+1, +1, +1—and the brave self-expression you have already taken puts you at the starting line.

Now that you understand how X’s traffic calculation works, will you start creating your own genuine interactions from today?