Wired has a long interview with Patreon CEO Jack Conte this week, and his views on digital culture are worth reading.
“The internet has been TikTokified,” he said. “It moved from being a follow-based subscription system where you would choose who you want to interact with into an algorithmically curated format where you don’t decide what you see – the platform decides what you’ll see. The net result of that is you see 500 creators in one day, and instead of forming deep relationships with those creators, you just skim the surface.”
Obviously, this is part of a pitch for what Patreon does to help creators “build a business and a community”, with Conte noting that the company recently crossed the $10bn payouts milestone.
“How do we measure value? Instead of optimising around whatever I will pay attention to –which actually is just hacking the human limbic system and A-B testing your way to the bottom of someone’s brainstem and figuring out what will suck them in – we’re looking at what will someone pay for?” he said.
“What makes someone go deeper with a creator over time – eight weeks down the road, a year down the road, two years down the road. What makes someone trust a person so much that they’re interested in the recommendations from that person? How can we build a system that optimises for long-term human connection and deep relationships instead of just addicting people to their phones?” he continued.
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