Data Review of Twitter's Million Dollar Long Article Contest: Ushering in the Era of "Cognitive Monetization"—These Survival Rules Are Essential

Author: Biteye

In January 2026, X (formerly Twitter)'s first long-form writing contest concluded with a total prize pool of $2.15 million (far exceeding the initial promise of $1 million).

But this is more than just a money-spending event; it's a signal of a major reshuffling of the X content ecosystem. This competition reveals a shift in content trends: Twitter's new algorithm and platform rules no longer care who can generate 100,000+ cheap clicks; they only care who can produce "asset-type content" with real work and the ability to carry high-value insights.

1️⃣ Champion's Retrospective: @beaverd — Achieving a Big Win with a Small Investment by Building a "Difficult-to-Replicate Data Barrier"

Award-winning entry: "Deloitte, a $74 billion cancer metastasized across America"

Prize: $1,000,000

???? Work Summary:

This is a typical data-driven investigative report. The author cleaned and analyzed millions of government contracts and invoices using a self-built database, providing a hard-hitting exposé of how consulting giant Deloitte monopolized government contracts through a "revolving door" mechanism between government and business. Despite the numerous vulnerabilities in its delivered IT systems (such as the California unemployment benefits system), it still resulted in the waste of approximately $74 billion of taxpayers' money, earning it the reputation of a malignant tumor parasitic on the fiscal system.

Why could a "small account" with only 96,000 followers before the competition defeat media outlets and KOLs with millions of followers? XHunt data reveals the underlying logic of his victory: he did the hard work that neither AI nor his peers could do.

In short: while others were still writing opinions and jumping on trending topics, he spent time building his own database and cleaning massive amounts of data from the ground up. This "dirty work" created an extremely high moat, making his content "unreplicable".

• X Data:

• Followers: ~96,000 (the smallest number among the winners)

• XHunt Exclusive Data:

• • Global Influence Ranking: #8056

  • Traffic change during the competition: 21.4x (explosive growth, with the popularity of a single article being 21 times higher than usual).

  • Overall long-term recommendations & articles percentage: 53.8%

  • Posting strategy during the competition: ???? -39.6% (Weekly posts decreased from 69 to 41)

  • XHunt KOL Spread Map

• Total KOL interactions: 83 (29 citations / 29 replies / 25 retweets)

• Key features: Highest concentration of influencers with millions of followers, covering the widest range of social circles.

• Top KOLs: @AutismCapital (1.03 million followers, top gossip news), @blknoiz06 (790,000 followers, Solana trading king), @cryptokaleo (730,000 followers, tech guru), and other top figures in the industry reposted this.

• XHunt Content Analysis:

  Analysis shows that this article is a rare example of "perfect information density." Based on a firsthand survey of the Somaliscan database, it boasts extremely high scores across all metrics (information value, credibility) and shows no signs of promotion. The strong personal indignation in the context makes its AI generation probability approach zero, representing pure "proof of human effort."

• Content Operations Methodology: Proof of Work

  @beaverd's core competency isn't his writing style, but rather the database he built that can scrape and clean government contracts and audit reports. This article is essentially a data survey product.

• Unreplicability: Ordinary writers cannot copy his content through a simple Google search because data cleaning and correlation are huge barriers in themselves.

• The "noise reduction" strategy: His approach is "less is more." He reduces daily noise and focuses all his energy on this "nuclear-level" investigative report.

2️⃣ Runner-up Recap: @KobeissiLetter — A "Precise Target" in Just One Long Article

Winning entry: "President Trump's EXACT Tariff Playbook"

Prize: $500,000

???? Work Summary:

This is a practical financial trading guide for "Trump's Trade War 2.0". Based on market data from the past 12 months, the author dissects the predictable pattern of tariff wars—from creating panic over the weekend leading to a sell-off on Monday, to a rebound triggered by a softening tone mid-week. The article clearly points out that by closely monitoring the 10-year US Treasury yield (with 4.6% as a warning line), investors can utilize this artificially created "crisis-easing" cycle to achieve excess returns far exceeding the market average.

• X Data:

• Follower count: ~1.33 million (Top influencer)

• XHunt Exclusive Data:

• • Global Influence Ranking: #936

  • Traffic flow changes during the race: 1.1x (steady growth)

  • Long-form recommendations & articles account for 87.7% (high-frequency, long-form content)

  • Posting strategy during the competition: ???? +15.9% (Weekly average posts surged to 148.9, daily average >20 posts)

  • Keyword profile: Breaking, Market, Trade, No

  • XHunt KOL Spread Map

• Total KOL interactions: 20 (11 citations / 6 retweets / 3 replies)

• Key characteristics: Although the total number of KOL interactions is the lowest, the penetration rate in Chinese crypto communities/institutional circles is extremely high.

• It has received extensive citations from professional figures such as @qinbafrank (107,000 followers, leading Chinese macro analyst), @PANews (93,000 followers, institutional media), and @RamenPanda (76,000 followers, Chinese OG).

• XHunt Content Analysis:

  This content perfectly balances "practical utility" and "professional authority." It provides a step-by-step transaction scenario for specific geopolitical situations, making it extremely valuable for reference. Although it includes a soft lead generation (subscription newsletter), its inclusion of highly timely details and expert-level analysis makes it highly unlikely to be generated by AI, showcasing rare insights from seasoned practitioners.

• Content Operation Methodology: The Perfect Combination of Flow and Stock

  @KobeissiLetter did not change his style for the sake of the competition. He insisted on being a "personal intelligence agency".

• Speed ​​is an asset: He maintained extremely high user engagement by sending more than 20 high-frequency information streams per day.

• A Rare Stroke of Depth: The award-winning long article was a rare "deep dive" within his vast information flow. He served users with a massive amount of real-time information, yet won the grand prize with his single, in-depth script. For financial accounts, speed is the norm, but depth is the killer feature.

3️⃣ Creator's Choice Award: @thedankoe — A $250,000 "Digital Inspirational Story"

Award-winning work: *How to unlock extreme focus on command*

Many people are confused as to why his phenomenal article, "How to Fix Your Entire Life," which garnered 170 million views and spurred the Alpha launch of the MEME coin "1," didn't win an award. The answer is simple: timing was wrong. The article was published on January 12th, while the competition didn't start until January 16th. This also perfectly explains why his traffic during the competition period appeared to "plummet" by 90% in XHunt data—because the baseline data was inflated too much by that viral article.

Prize: $250,000

???? Work Summary:

This is an unconventional, in-depth guide to personal effectiveness. The author points out that most people's busyness is an inefficient "mental entropy increase," and true creators do not need to work around the clock; they only need one hour of deep focus each day. By setting "reverse visions" to leverage fear and implementing "project-based learning" to combat information overload, ordinary people can completely reshape their life trajectory within a year through minimalist, high signal-to-noise ratio input.

• X Data:

• Fan base: ~838,000

• XHunt Exclusive Data:

• • Global Influence Ranking: #1598

  • Traffic changes during the competition: 0.1x (statistical illusion; returns to normal after removing pre-competition hits)

  • Long-term recommendations & articles account for 77.8% (focusing on in-depth analysis)

  • Posting strategy: ???? -45.1% (extremely low frequency, only 3.9 posts per week)

  • Keyword profile: Focus, Mind, Life, System

  • XHunt KOL Spread Map

• Total KOL interactions: 177 (82 citations / 22 retweets / 73 replies)

• Key feature: Quoted 82 times, showing an extremely high willingness to spread.

• Most of the participants are high-net-worth founders/builders, such as @coachdango (850,000 followers, founder mentor), @gregisenberg (590,000 followers, community growth guru), @dickiebush (430,000 followers, writing growth), and @0xrooter (Suilend founder, hardcore technology).

• XHunt Content Analysis:

  A typical "evergreen asset." While it emphasizes general methodologies rather than scarce data, the psychological frameworks it uses lend it high credibility. The content clearly aims to build brand awareness (moderate promotional tendency), but its unique personal "voice" and specific metaphors distinguish it from generic AI motivational content, making it a high-value personal brand output.

• Content operation methodology: Turning "inspirational quotes" into core assets

  Dan Koe's content is often jokingly referred to as "cyber inspirational chicken soup," but this award proves that as long as the chicken soup is brewed rich enough, it can be a dollar. He didn't output emotions, but rather a mindset framework.

• "Practical Assets: Stripping away data noise, he is a true 'anti-algorithm' creator. He doesn't need to chase trends; whether it's 'focus guide' or 'life improvement,' these are evergreen contents that people still search for, save, and read repeatedly even a year later."

4️⃣ Group of Honorary Awards: Exemplary Models of "Breaking Boundaries" in Vertical Industries ($100,000 x 4)

If the top three were a battle of titans, then these four recipients of the $100,000 honorary award represent various aspects of the X platform's content ecosystem. They each validated different winning strategies within their respective vertical fields:

• Nick Shirley (Public Policy/Field): His core competency lies in his "field awareness." Unlike analysis conducted from a keyboard, he establishes connections with the real world, transforming firsthand observations from offline experiences into online influence, successfully carving out a niche in the field of public policy.

• Josh Wolfe (Geopolitics/Technology): As a top investor, his strength lies in his "insight." He simplifies complex macroeconomic situations with a high-dimensional understanding, providing readers with a rare strategic perspective. It's worth noting that he donated the entire prize money, demonstrating exceptional magnanimity.

• Kaizen Asiedu (History/Culture): He proved the power of "story." Through in-depth cultivation of niche vertical fields, he packaged seemingly obscure historical content into captivating stories, breaking the algorithm's dependence on popular topics and forging a unique cultural path.

• Ryan Hall (Public Safety): He represents the ultimate in "utility." Weather forecasts and safety alerts may seem dry, but by providing solid community value services, he won the algorithm's highest reward for "high signal-to-noise ratio" content, proving that tool-like content still has huge monetization potential.

Key takeaways:

Their awards mark the rise of vertical fields such as history, public policy, and security on X. For ordinary creators, it's better to be a pioneer in a "vertical track" than to be caught up in the red ocean of macro narratives.

???? Biteye's Core Insights: 2026 Account Management and Monetization Practical Guide

Based on the data from this competition and X's latest recommendation algorithm, we have summarized the survival and profit-making rules for creators in the long-form content category in 2026:

1. Build your asset barriers

When operating a long-form article account, one must abandon the mindset of "writing a diary" and instead adopt the mindset of "building an asset."

• Data assets: Like @beaverd, have primary control over data sources.

• Intelligence assets: Like @KobeissiLetter, become the most efficient channel for users to obtain information.

• Cognitive assets: Like @thedankoe, output time-tested, reusable mental models.

• Vertical assets: Like award winners, delve deeply into a highly specialized field (such as history, security).

2. Rethinking "Verified Users": From "Traffic" to "High-Value Attention"

The core metric of this competition, "Verified Home Timeline impressions," reveals the underlying logical shift in the algorithm: from "breadth-first" to "signal-to-noise ratio-first."

• Operational Strategy: Your long-form articles don't need to please everyone; they only need to precisely target verified users who are "intelligent and have money." Under the new weighting of algorithms, the in-depth reading and interaction of a thousand industry experts far outweighs the cursory browsing of hundreds of thousands of casual observers.

3. Establish a "high signal-to-noise ratio" vertical persona.

Don't try to become an all-powerful influencer. Build strong trust by relying on "self-education" and consistently sharing your growth path in your specific field.

• Monetization Logic: Only by vertically positioning ourselves can we attract high-value traffic. Ultimately, we can achieve substantial monetization through affiliate programs (tool rebates), paid communities (knowledge-based paid services), or our own products, rather than relying on meager advertising revenue.

4. The goal is not to create a long article; practicality is paramount.

Don't pad your writing to reach word count. The success of Dan Koe and Ryan Hall proves that algorithms are rewarding content that helps users "save time" or "solve problems."

• Writing advice: Focus on writing concise, step-by-step tutorials, in-depth reviews, data insights, and compelling articles. This type of content is not only favored by Twitter's recommendation algorithm but also has a strong long-tail effect, continuing to generate passive traffic and targeted followers through search even months later.

5. With the guide in hand, you'll remain calm.

Biteye's "Deconstructing the X New Algorithm: The Ultimate Guide to Content Mining in 2026" is a must-have.

Link ???? https://x.com/BiteyeCN/status/2013892475983978758

Data source: XHunt, as of February 4, 2026