Social media platforms are making it easier and easier for creators to earn money from their content. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, and X all have dedicated programs that get creators onboarded to monetization. Some of those programs are new, and others—like YouTube’s—are long-established, but over the past couple of years have seen their eligibility requirements lowered, giving more creators a shorter gap from first post to first paycheck.

On YouTube, creators can earn AdSense revenue when they hit 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time on long-form videos, or 10 million views on Shorts. On Twitch, streamers can apply to be Partners when they’ve streamed 25 hours over 12 different days, with an average of at least 75 viewers during those streams. On TikTok and Instagram, creators can start monetizing when they hit 10,000 followers. And on X, creators must have accounts at least three months old, with at least 5 million...