Author: Biteye

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

But this was not just a money-dispensing event; it was a signal of a major reshuffle in X's content ecosystem. This competition revealed a shift in content trends: Twitter's new algorithms and platform rules no longer care about who can generate 100k+ cheap clicks; they only care about who can produce "asset-type content" that has real workload and can carry high-value cognition.

1️⃣ Champion Review: @beaverd — Leveraging "Difficult-to-Replicate Data Barriers" for Big Wins

Winning Work: "Deloitte, a $74 billion cancer metastasized across America"

Prize: $1,000,000

???? Work Summary:

This is a typical data-driven investigative report. The author built a database to clean and analyze millions of government contracts and invoices, revealing how consulting giant Deloitte monopolizes government orders through the "revolving door" mechanism; despite delivering IT systems (like California's unemployment system) riddled with flaws, it still resulted in approximately $74 billion in taxpayer money wasted, being referred to as a tumor parasitizing the financial system.

Why could a "small account" with only 96,000 followers defeat media and KOLs with millions of followers? XHunt data reveals the underlying logic of his victory: he did the "hard work" that AI and peers could not.

In simple terms: while others were still writing opinions and riding trends, he spent time building a database and cleaning massive amounts of data from the ground up. This "dirty work" created a high barrier to entry, making his content "non-replicable."

• X Data:

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

• XHunt Exclusive Data:

• Global Influence Ranking: #8056

• Traffic Change During Competition: 21.4x (explosive growth, single article popularity is 21 times the usual)

• Overall Long Tweets & Article Proportion: 53.8%

• Posting Strategy During Competition: ???? -39.6% (weekly posts dropped from 69 to 41)

• XHunt KOL Communication Map

• Total KOL Interactions: 83 (Citations 29 / Replies 29 / Retweets 25)

• Core Feature: Highest concentration of million-level big V, covering the widest circles.

• Top KOLs: @AutismCapital (1.03 million followers, top news aggregator), @blknoiz06 (790k followers, Solana hype master), @cryptokaleo (730k followers, technical expert) and other top influencers in the field retweeted.

• XHunt Content Analysis:

  Analysis shows that this article is a rare "full score information density" sample. It is based on first-hand investigations from the Somaliscan database, with extremely high indicators (information value, credibility) and no promotional traces. The strong context of personal outrage makes its AI generation probability approach zero, representing pure "human proof of work."

• Content Operation Methodology: Proof of Work

  @beaverd's core competitiveness is not his writing style, but that he built a database capable of scraping and cleaning government contracts and audit reports. This article is essentially a data investigation product.

• Non-Replicability: Ordinary writers cannot replicate his content through simple Google searches, as the data cleaning and correlation itself is a huge barrier.

• "Noise Reduction" Strategy: His strategy is "less is more." Reduce daily noise and focus all energy on this "nuclear-level" investigative report.

2️⃣ Runner-Up Review: @KobeissiLetter — A "Precision Strike" with Just One Long Article

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

Prize: $500,000

???? Work Summary:

This is a financial operational trading guide targeting "Trump's Trade War 2.0." The author dissects the fixed patterns of the tariff war based on market data from the past 12 months—creating panic over the weekend leading to Monday sell-offs, followed by mid-week easing of tone triggering rebounds; the article clearly states that as long as investors keep an eye on the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield (with 4.6% as a warning line), they can leverage this artificially created "crisis-relief" volatility cycle to achieve excess returns far exceeding the market.

• X Data:

• Follower Count: ~1.33 million (top influencer)

• XHunt Exclusive Data:

• Global Influence Ranking: #936

• Traffic Change During Competition: 1.1x (steady growth)

• Long Tweets & Article Proportion: 87.7% (high-frequency long content)

• Posting Strategy During Competition: ???? +15.9% (weekly posts surged to 148.9, daily average >20)

• Keyword Profile: Breaking, Market, Trade, No

• XHunt KOL Communication Map

• Total KOL Interactions: 20 (Citations 11 / Retweets 6 / Replies 3)

• Core Feature: Although the total number of KOL interactions is the least, its penetration rate in the Chinese crypto community/institution circle is extremely high.

• Received intensive citations from professional forces like @qinbafrank (107k followers, top Chinese macro), @PANews (93k followers, institutional media), @RamenPanda (76k followers, Chinese OG).

• XHunt Content Analysis:

  This content perfectly balances "practical utility" and "professional authority." It provides a step-by-step trading script for specific geopolitical situations, with extremely high reference value. Although it contains soft lead generation (subscription newsletter), due to its high timeliness details and expert-level deductions, the AI generation probability is extremely low, showcasing the rare insights of seasoned practitioners.

• Content Operation Methodology: Perfect Combination of Flow and Stock

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

• Speed is an Asset: He maintained extremely high user stickiness with a high-frequency information flow (Flow) of over 20 posts daily.

• Rare Depth: The award-winning long article is a rare "deep dive" in his massive information flow. He serves users with a wealth of real-time information while harvesting the grand prize with a single deep script. For financial accounts, speed is the norm, depth is the killer skill.

3️⃣ Creator's Choice Award: @thedankoe — A "Digital Chicken Soup" Worth $250,000

Winning Work: "How to unlock extreme focus on command"

• Many are puzzled as to why his article, which garnered 170 million views and spawned the launch of the Alpha MEME coin "1," did not win an award. The answer is simple: the timing was off. That article was published on January 12, while the competition started on January 16. This also perfectly explains why his traffic during the competition period appears to have "plummeted" by 90% in XHunt data—because the baseline data was pulled too high by that viral piece.

Prize: $250,000

???? Work Summary:

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

• X Data:

• Follower Count: ~838,000

• XHunt Exclusive Data:

• Global Influence Ranking: #1598

• Traffic Change During Competition: 0.1x (statistical illusion, returning to normal after excluding pre-competition viral hits)

• Long Tweets & Article Proportion: 77.8% (focused on depth)

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

• Keyword Profile: Focus, Mind, Life, System

• XHunt KOL Communication Map

• Total KOL Interactions: 177 (Citations 82 / Retweets 22 / Replies 73)

• Core Feature: A high number of 82 citations, indicating a strong willingness to spread.

• Participants are mostly high-net-worth founders/builders, such as @coachdango (850k followers, founder coach), @gregisenberg (590k followers, community growth expert), @dickiebush (430k followers, writing growth), and @0xrooter (founder of Suilend, hardcore tech).

• XHunt Content Analysis:

  A typical "Ivy League asset." Although it focuses on general methodologies rather than scarce data, the psychological frameworks cited give it high credibility. The content has a clear brand-building purpose (moderate promotional tendency), but its unique personal "voice" and specific metaphors distinguish it from generic AI self-help, making it a high-value personal IP output.

• Content Operation Methodology: Turning "self-help" into a hardcore asset

  Dan Koe's content is often jokingly referred to as "cyber self-help," but this award proves that as long as the self-help is rich enough, it translates into dollars. He does not output emotions but rather provides a framework for thinking.

• "Practical Asset": By filtering out data noise, he is a true "anti-algorithm" creator. He does not need to chase trends; whether it's a "focus guide" or "life repair," these are evergreen contents that, even after a year, still attract searches, collections, and repeated readings.

4️⃣ Honorary Award Group: "Breaking the Circle" Models in Vertical Fields ($100,000 x 4)

If the top three are "celestial beings battling," then these four honorary award winners, each receiving $100,000, represent various directions in X's content ecosystem. They have validated different winning logics in their respective vertical fields:

• Nick Shirley (Public Policy/Field): His core competitiveness lies in "Field." Unlike analysis from behind a keyboard, he connects with the real world, transforming firsthand experiences into online influence, successfully carving a niche in public policy.

• Josh Wolfe (Geopolitics/Technology): As a top investor, he excels in "Insight." He simplifies complex macro situations into high-dimensional cognitive insights, providing readers with rare strategic perspectives. Notably, he donated the entire prize, showcasing a high level of vision.

• Kaizen Asiedu (History/Culture): He proves the power of "Story." By delving deep into niche verticals, he packages seemingly obscure historical content into engaging narratives, breaking free from the algorithm's reliance on trending topics and carving out a unique cultural path.

• Ryan Hall (Public Safety): He represents extreme "Utility." Weather forecasts and safety alerts may seem dull, but by providing solid community value services, he earned the algorithm's highest rewards for "high signal-to-noise" content, proving that tool-like content still has significant monetization potential.

Core Insights:

Their awards mark the rise of vertical fields such as history, public policy, and safety on X. For ordinary creators, rather than competing in the red ocean of macro narratives, it is better to be the first in a "vertical track."

???? Biteye's Core Perspective: 2026 Account Operation and Monetization Practical Guide

Combining the data from this competition with X's latest recommended algorithms, we summarize the survival and profit rules for creators in the long-form track in 2026:

1. Build Your Asset Barrier

When operating a long-form account, you must abandon the "diary writing" mindset and shift to an "asset creation" mindset.

• Data Assets: Like @beaverd, master first-hand data sources.

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

• Cognitive Assets: Like @thedankoe, output reusable thinking models validated over time.

• Vertical Assets: Like the honorary award winners, delve deeply into highly specialized fields (such as history and safety).

2. Reinterpret "Verified Users": Shift from "Traffic" to "High-Net-Worth Attention"

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

• Operational Strategy: Your long-form content does not need to please everyone; it only needs to precisely hit those "smart and wealthy" verified users. Under the new algorithmic weight, the deep reading and interaction of a thousand industry experts far outweigh the casual scrolling of a hundred thousand onlookers.

3. Establish a "High Signal-to-Noise Ratio" Vertical Persona

Do not attempt to be a universal big V. Build strong trust by relying on "self-education" and continuously sharing growth paths in your vertical field.

• Monetization Logic: Only with vertical positioning can you attract high-value traffic. Ultimately, achieve substantial monetization through Affiliate (tool commissions), paid communities (knowledge payments), or proprietary products, rather than relying on meager ad revenue.

4. "Long-form" is not the goal; "Practicality" is king

Do not pad your writing to meet word counts. The successes of Dan Koe and Ryan Hall prove that algorithms reward content that helps users "save time" or "solve problems."

• Writing Advice: Write more comprehensive tutorials, in-depth reviews, data insights, and compelling deep articles. Such content not only appeals to Twitter's recommendation algorithm but also has a strong long-tail effect, continuing to bring passive traffic and targeted followers even months later.

5. Hold the Manual, Stay Calm

Biteye presents "Decoding X's New Algorithm: The Ultimate Guide to Content Monetization in 2026" as a must-have for everyone.

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

Data Source: XHunt, as of February 4, 2026.

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