A Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, is offering to give 1,000 Twitter followers 1 million yen, or $9,000, each. Almost anybody was eligible to receive the small piece of Maezawa's fortune. All they had to do was join Twitter and retweet the announcement before midnight on January 7.

Now before you open up your Twitter app, you should know that all spots in his experiment are already filled. More than 4 million people did retweet the announcement. A lottery will determine the 1,000 “lucky” participants (who will each receive $9,000 US dollars).

In an announcement on YouTube, the tech tycoon called the contest a "serious social trial" to see what impact a million yen could have on a person's life. Contestants are instructed to use the money “as they like” and to answer regular questionnaires about how they're using it. The primary question he hopes to answer--“Will 1 million yen improve happiness?”

Source:

Aria Bendix, “A Japanese billionaire is giving away $9 million to people on Twitter to see if it boosts their happiness,” Business Insider (1-8-20)