With Instagram, Facebook and TikTok all having established creator platforms, X’s has launched Creator Connect aimed at connect brands and advertisers to creators.
X (formerly Twitter and now part of SpaceX) has set its sights on becoming a more influence-forward platform with the launch of a new product for creators to better utilise its site.
The AI-powered creator matching tool, called Creator Connect, aims to help advertisers tap into niche communities within the app and identify which creators are best suited to a brand’s target audience. Its goal is to fuel a more prolific influencer landscape.
xAI tools will power the process of creator selection, contact, content creation, and distribution – with brands able to review at each stage.
“We’ve really been looking at this as the year where we’re entering our creator era as a platform, and really trying to build a platform that fosters a healthy creator economy,” said Mitchell Smith, global head of content partnerships for X, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“We look at it as a hyper-intelligent creator-led branded content solution, where we’re essentially leveraging proprietary tooling through our sister company xAI, to pair the most suitable creators on the platform with client specific campaign needs.”
X to rebuild advertising ecosystem
X’s competitors – Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok – all have established creator infrastructures, with Facebook launching an affiliate partnership programme that could see creators earning up to $3,000 per month.
In order to offer a truly viable alternative to these social media powerhouses, X must appeal not just to budding creators, but also to brands and advertisers – a difficult sell given the platform’s reputation as the ‘anything goes’ social network with a reluctance to moderate content.
A decision, which previously landed the site in hot water with both regulators and advertisers, who left the site en-masse after Elon Musk took over the platform, with 26% of marketers cutting spend on X in 2025.
Brand safety is never a guarantee, but on a platform that prides itself on being a bastion of free speech (in this day and age!), this confidence is knocked even further. Therefore developing an influencer infrastructure is a vital part of encouraging a creator and advertiser ecosystem again.
