Patreon unveiled a revamp of its platform through a sequence of updates on Wednesday. These changes aim to provide creators with more customisation and control while enabling supporters with expanded ways to follow their favoured creators. Moreover, the platform is embracing more free content, allowing every creator to foster communities accessible to non-paying members. Alongside, Patreon has refreshed its branding, featuring a new logo, colour themes, photography, and fonts.
A stepping stone for creators and communities
Creators' newfound ability to strengthen their communities for free members is a significant highlight among the updates. Creators can now welcome people to join for free, sharing content and updates with non-paying members while having the choice to reserve perks like early access to podcasts or videos for paying members. A new commerce tool has been introduced, allowing creators to sell individual pieces of content such as recordings, videos, and downloadable files. This transformation makes Patreon more of a comprehensive social hub for fans still deciding whether to commit financially but may choose to.
Patreon portrays these modifications as a shift away from creators being captive to algorithms, steering them back to form direct connections with their most enthusiastic and loyal fans. The initiative has seemingly paid off, as creators with early access to the program have drawn over 160,000 new fans to their communities.
Tailoring the creator and fan experience
Creators now enjoy more freedom in customising their pages, including the layout, colours, and post displays. As Patreon suggests, whether you're showcasing your most popular posts, categorising your podcast episodes into seasons, or compiling a video series, the enhanced features provide the creative liberty to organise and exhibit your work in a way that engages members and helps them find exactly what they're after. Early indications from Patreon demonstrate that these new collections are leading to increased discovery and engagement, particularly on older posts.
Adding to the interactive experience, Patreon is also rolling out chats and member profiles. The chats led and managed by creators offer a platform to mould the culture and set the desired tone for their communities. Members can report troubling messages, with creators having a central hub to review them.
Lastly, the Patreon app is undergoing a redesign. Aimed at enriching the experience for the most avid fans, the updated app now showcases content as arranged by creators rather than in chronological order. This new layout allows members to log in and immediately view all the content they wish to see, organised by the creator rather than post, presenting a creator's latest work alongside community conversations and other activities, thereby encapsulating creativity in context, as envisioned by the creators.
