X has rolled out yet another feature to help creators increase engagement with their paid subscribers, as the feature allows creators to now turn on switching on DMs for subscribers only, which might unlock new avenues of engagement
Subscription monetization is enabled, so creators can now flip a switch and allow their subscribers to send them direct messages in the app, even if a setting elsewhere prevents it.

X updated the default setting for DMs in July to fight against the message spam, meaning that only your followers or verified users can send you the messages. Non-contacts and non-paying user can't send random users messages in the application but you can make your DM open to everyone if you wish. They're just not open by default which could probably be the reason why you are seeing a fewer number of messages in the application.

This new feature is actually even more concretely focused on enabling interaction with your paying audience, through giving them greater possibilities to reach out, and giving you more avenues to deepen those interactions.

In addition to that, X is also working on a new tag for the DMs from your subscribers in your inbox, so you can differentiate them and, for example, prioritize them in-stream.

This is another way for X to encourage more creator funding, in addition to its ad revenue-sharing program, hopefully to get more creators posting original content to X exclusively, keeping that engagement within its evolving creator ecosystem.

Whether X can compete with the others on this front remains to be seen, but it's another cog in Elon Musk's broader plan to make X the key app for all types of interactions and transactions.