Building passive income on X is an enticing goal for creators, influencers, and entrepreneurs in 2025, but it’s not as simple as amassing a large follower count. Passive income—earnings that flow with minimal ongoing effort—hinges on an active, engaged audience that amplifies your content. Without high engagement, your posts get lost in the algorithm, opportunities for monetization dwindle, and your revenue potential stalls. On X, where visibility drives earnings, the quality of your followers matters far more than the quantity.
To unlock passive income streams like ad revenue sharing, creator subscriptions, or affiliate marketing, you need followers who like, retweet, and reply—consistently. Inactive or "ghost" followers drag down your engagement rate, making it harder for your content to reach new eyes or qualify for X’s monetization programs.
Tools like Circleboom can help you spot and remove these passive followers, while its AI Tweet Generator crafts posts designed to spark interaction.
By focusing on engagement and leveraging smart tools, you can turn your X account into a powerful income-generating machine.
This is from an X account with 10.5 million followers, can you believe it? Follower number doesn't matter! What matters is your engagement rate!
If you wonder your X engagement rate, you can calculate yours within seconds ⬇️
Ways to Generate Passive Income on X
X offers several built-in and creative monetization features that can lead to passive earnings, especially as the platform continues to expand its creator economy in 2025. However, most of these rely on consistent visibility and interaction to work effectively. Here's a breakdown of the most viable methods:
Ads Revenue Sharing
This is X's flagship monetization program, where eligible creators earn a share of ad revenue from impressions on ads displayed in replies to their posts. To qualify, you typically need a Premium or Verified Organizations subscription, at least 500 verified followers, and 5 million impressions over the past three months. Once set up, it can feel passive—post quality content, and let the algorithm handle the rest. Earnings come from views and interactions, making it ideal for evergreen threads or viral tweets that keep attracting replies long after posting.
You need at least 500 verified followers.
If you need verified follower, you need to do two things:
- Post quality content
- Follow verified people
If you follow verified accounts X, some of them will return and follow you back! This is the old follow for follow tactic, but for verified accounts.
Then the question comes: how can I find verified accounts that will follow me back?
Here is the answer ⬇️
Creator Subscriptions
Allow your most dedicated followers to pay a monthly fee (starting at $2.99) for exclusive content, badges, and perks like private posts or bonus threads. This creates recurring revenue that's relatively hands-off once you've built a loyal base. Think of it as a Patreon-like model integrated directly into X.
Subscription is a good business model but you need to dedicate to find and increase your "dedicated followers".
I assume you need help to increase your subscribers on X and here it is ⬇️
Affiliate Marketing
Promote products or services through affiliate links in your tweets, bios, or threads. When followers click and purchase, you earn commissions. Tools like Amazon Associates or niche programs work well here.
For passivity, embed links in timeless content, such as how-to guides or product reviews, that continue driving traffic over time.
Here ⬇️ where you can find the best places to find affiliate marketing collaborations
Selling Digital Products
Use X to drive sales of e-books, online courses, templates, or print-on-demand merchandise. Platforms like Gumroad or Teachable integrate easily. Post teasers or value-packed threads that link to your storefront, and let automation handle fulfillment—true passive income potential.
Do you know there are other options to sell your digital products ⬇️
Tips and Donations
Enable tips via X's built-in feature, allowing followers to send one-time payments through services like PayPal or Stripe. While not entirely passive, it rewards high-value content and can accumulate from appreciative audiences.
Do you know how you can fill your Twitter Tip Jar ⬇️
Sponsored Content and Brand Deals
Partner with brands for paid tweets or promotions. For passivity, focus on long-term ambassadorships where a single endorsement generates ongoing affiliate sales.
Have you ever heard of brand affinity on X? That will you collaborate with brands if you know that ⬇️
Ticketed Spaces and Live Events
Host paid audio rooms or events, then repurpose recordings as exclusive subscriber content for residual earnings.
These methods can generate anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars monthly, depending on your niche and scale. But the common thread? They all thrive on engagement—likes, retweets, replies, and impressions—that amplify your reach and signal to X's algorithm that your content deserves promotion.
If you don't know how to start a ticketed Space on X, here is the guide ⬇️
The Importance of High Engagement Rates
Engagement isn't just a vanity metric; it's the lifeblood of passive income on X. The platform's algorithm prioritizes content that sparks conversations, boosting visibility in users' feeds and "For You" tabs. High engagement rates (typically calculated as interactions divided by impressions or followers) lead to:
- Increased Impressions: More eyes on your posts mean higher ad revenue shares and affiliate clicks.
- Algorithmic Favoritism: Engaged accounts get recommended more, attracting organic growth without paid ads.
- Monetization Eligibility: Programs like Ads Revenue Sharing explicitly require strong impression metrics, which stem from active interactions.
- Audience Loyalty: Engaged followers are more likely to subscribe, tip, or buy your products, turning one-time viewers into recurring revenue sources.
In essence, low engagement caps your earning potential. If your posts fall flat, they won't generate the passive streams you're aiming for—no matter how many followers you have.
Why You Can't Afford Inactive Followers
Here's where the "passive followers" problem comes in. Inactive or "ghost" followers—those who follow but never like, retweet, or reply—inflate your count without adding value. They drag down your engagement rate by increasing the denominator in calculations (e.g., interactions per follower). A bloated follower list might look impressive, but it signals to the algorithm that your audience isn't interested, reducing your content's reach.
Worse, these followers could be bots, dormant accounts, or mismatched users who followed impulsively. Keeping them around dilutes your community, making it harder to foster genuine interactions. To build passive income, you need a lean, active audience that amplifies your voice—not a silent majority.
Elevate Your Game with Circleboom: Spot, Remove, and Optimize!
Fortunately, tools like Circleboom make it easy to identify and eliminate inactive followers, paving the way for higher engagement and better monetization. Circleboom is a comprehensive X management platform designed for creators who want to streamline their accounts without the hassle.
Start by using Circleboom's analytics to calculate your engagement rate. It provides a clear, data-driven snapshot of how your content performs—likes, retweets, replies, and impressions all in one dashboard. If your rate is low (aim for at least 1-2% as a benchmark for growing accounts), the culprit is often inactive followers. Circleboom's inactive follower finder scans your list to highlight accounts that haven't engaged in months, allowing you to remove them in bulk. This simple step can boost your engagement rate overnight by focusing your efforts on real, active users.
But Circleboom goes further. Low-performing tweets can also tank your overall metrics. Use its tweet deletion feature to remove posts with zero engagement, cleaning up your profile and signaling to the algorithm that your account is high-quality. This not only improves your engagement score but also makes your timeline more appealing to new followers.
Of course, prevention is better than cure. The best way to sustain high engagement is by creating posts that naturally encourage interactions—questions, polls, controversial takes, or value-packed threads. This is where Circleboom's AI Tweet Generator shines. Powered by advanced AI, it crafts tailored tweets based on your niche, keywords, and style, optimized for maximum engagement. Whether you're brainstorming affiliate promotions or subscription teasers, it generates content that's proven to spark replies and retweets, helping you build that passive income momentum.
By integrating Circleboom into your workflow, you're not just managing your account—you're engineering it for profitability. Many creators report significant engagement lifts after pruning inactive followers and leveraging AI-generated content, directly translating to higher ad revenues and subscription sign-ups.
Creating Engaging Content: The Best Long-Term Strategy
While tools like Circleboom handle the cleanup, the ultimate key to passive income is consistent, engaging content creation. Focus on your niche: Share insights, stories, or tips that resonate deeply. Use visuals, threads, and polls to boost interactions.
Analyze what works via Circleboom's insights, then double down. Over time, this builds a self-sustaining cycle where your audience grows organically, engagement soars, and income flows passively.
Conclusion: Activate Your Audience, Unlock Your Earnings
You can't generate passive income with passive followers—it's that simple. By prioritizing engagement through X's monetization tools, ditching dead weight, and using smart platforms like Circleboom, you can transform your account into a revenue machine. Calculate your engagement rate today, remove those inactive followers, delete underperforming tweets, and let the AI Tweet Generator fuel your content strategy. The result? A vibrant community that not only engages but pays dividends—literally.
Ready to get started? Head over to Circleboom and take control of your X presence. Your passive income journey begins with active choices!