- Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, is the most followed YouTuber in the world.
- Donaldson has built up an online rapport with one of his heroes, Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
MrBeast, the most-followed YouTuber in the world, told Elon Musk he thinks Twitter is unlikely to be able to pay creators more money than YouTube.
The YouTube star, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, made the comments in a conversation with the billionaire in a series of posts on Twitter, which was taken over by Musk on October 28.
On November 22, Musk tweeted an image of a chart, along with the caption, "Twitter added 1.6M daily active users this past week, another all-time high."
Later that day, Donaldson, who has 114 million subscribers on YouTube, replied to Musk's tweet, writing, "I wonder what YouTube's daily actives is?"
According to YouTube's figures, the platform has over 2 billion monthly active users.
Musk responded to Donaldson by tweeting, "Let's see what happens when Twitter offers good video with higher compensation for creators …"
In his reply, Donaldson said it will be "hard" for Twitter to compensate content creators with more money than YouTube currently does since creators are able to earn a sizeable amount of ad revenue from YouTube videos, even after the platform "takes their cut." Insider previously reported that influencers can earn 55% of a video's ad revenue if they are part of YouTube's Partner Program.
"I'd be shocked if you crack that code," Donaldson added in his tweet.
—MrBeast (@MrBeast) November 22, 2022
Donaldson, who is one of YouTube's highest-paid creators and who is known for posting high-production challenge-style videos on the platform, previously said that Musk is one of his biggest inspirations, alongside Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in an interview with Rolling Stone.
The influencer appears to have built up a rapport with Musk on Twitter, as the billionaire has previously used the platform to ask Donaldson for advice about a potential plan to relaunch the now-defunct social media platform Vine and to announce that he would donate $1 million dollars to the influencer's tree-planting campaign.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2019
After becoming CEO of Twitter, Musk has planned to introduce a series of ambitious changes to the platform, which he called "Twitter 2.0."
In a recording from a Q&A with Twitter staff in early November, which was obtained by The Verge, Musk told Twitter staff to reach out to "cool" YouTubers and lure them over with 10% pay increases so that the platform can bulk up its video content.
According to a leaked recording of an all-hands meeting obtained by The Verge, other changes proposed by Musk include the addition of video and voice call features, as well as secure direct messaging.
Musk's Twitter takeover has been met with intense criticism after the billionaire ignited mass layoffs at the social media company and implemented a "hardcore" work mission encouraging staff to work for "long hours at high intensity" to meet his vision for the company.
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