Pay for chat: Creating a Chat Platform for Creators and Their Fans
There is a need for innovative solutions for paid chat platform options to content creators.
A few weeks ago, I contemplated the establishment of a paid chat platform for internet creators. Indeed, there have been occasions when I sought to engage in a private discussion with a renowned creator whom I had been following on Twitter for some time, with the purpose of soliciting recommendations and acquiring insights into how he managed his work. Unfortunately, the individual in question did not provide an option of this nature on his profile. The closest approximation was the possibility of requesting an online call with him, for which I lacked the financial resources. Since then, I have endeavored to conceive of means by which I could fulfill my request without incurring excessive costs. The only solution that came to mind was to pool my request with those of other individuals interested in the same information, thus reducing the per capita expense borne by multiple parties instead of a singular one. The notion of a communal discussion channel for creators appeared self-evident to me. I subsequently sought to investigate the available options, and Patreon immediately sprung to mind. Why, then, did I not observe its use by my favorite creators on Twitter?
I was curious to learn more.
Justin Welsh, Sahil Bloom, Jay Clouse - my words are directed at you. Why, pray tell, do you not possess a Patreon for your community? Perhaps it is due to the fact that you do not wish to charge your subscribers for mere discussion and prefer to provide them with more substantial products and services. This is understandable, but what of the possibility of communicating with your subscribers in an even more direct manner, via instant messaging? It is well known that communication with customers (or, to be more exact, fans or subscribers) - both current and prospective - is crucial for creators. Any means that facilitates greater proximity should not be disregarded, and you are well aware of this. However, the current means at your disposal, such as Direct Messages (DMs), do not foster the kind of exchange that is necessary when one has built a considerable audience. Let us not even speak of emails - the spam that inundates your communication channels must not delight you, and as a result, most creators isolate themselves and implement settings and mechanisms that enable them to filter who can send them messages. Nevertheless, there are ways to render communication between a creator and their subscribers accessible and seamless. Several digital platforms have attempted to do so in recent years, the most notable of which are likely Onlyfans, Myms, and Patreon. While these platforms have made inroads in this area, they have not entirely met the needs of creators on the subject, particularly as it pertains to simple discussion. The platforms mentioned above offer exclusive content publication, dialogue, or access to privileged meetings or events with the creator. However, my subject pertains exclusively to communal dialogue. Most creators have the option of creating posts on their social media networks to collect questions from their followers, which they can then answer once a month during dedicated live streams or videos. However, they must sift through a plethora of comments to select only a few, or else it would take them entire days to do so.
I began to reflect on certain things…
I saw an opportunity for an innovative and ambitious entrepreneur to propose a creative solution to this need. However, I doubted the relevance of it since it's not really a problem that content creators are facing. They have already found alternative, manual, and impractical means that work in some way. But this week, Meta, through Instagram, came to bring water to my mill with the new "Channels" feature. You have probably heard about it. It will allow creators on Instagram to create channels for their subscribers to broadcast or acquire information from their subscribers in a more convenient way. This announcement has been widely praised, with creators seeing it as a masterful idea and proof of Instagram's ambition for 2023 to focus on the community. For me, this is a kind of validation of my concept and at the same time an invitation to express all the ideas, even the most far-fetched, that have come to me in this direction.
Firstly, I envisioned for the platform to provide the possibility for subscribers to communicate with creators in a dialogical way. Not in a one-way sense as Instagram will offer. Subscribers should be able to write too, in a sort of group or rather forum. The main challenge here would be to make this fluid. How to make sure that thousands of messages are transformed into one or a few so that the creator is not overwhelmed and can easily respond. Several options are to be considered, including filtering the messages received during the day so that they are summarized into bullet points or designating a human or automated moderator.
Secondly, I envisioned the platform as a sort of digital pinboard, much like Link in Bio, a small system that is easy to integrate and adopt, not a big imposing system that wants to have an app or an account with a feed or other features. The bare minimum for easy adoption. The reason is that some creators, in order to interact with their community, go so far as to try out Twitch, and subscribers have a hard time keeping up. You have to create an account, get used to a new platform, etc.
Third and final point, monetization. Let's not be mistaken, few subscribers will be willing to pay for the service, let alone creators, so we will have to resort to advertising spaces, but in an ingenious way, like with newsletters. We will need to incorporate ads at all levels. The backgrounds of the discussion spaces will be sponsored. It will be a whole new space to create from scratch for sponsored discussion. We will need to mold it in such a way as to be able to offer native advertising. Nothing is excluded, such as presenting a sponsor as the one making the discussion possible and encouraging people to buy one of their products.
That being said, I imagine a page, a space, a universe dedicated to a creator, so that we can enter a little more into their universe. It will be another formula. We will be able to have objects in photos, links, arrange and organize as we want. Brands will offer spaces in their image for their promotion.
I'm sure others have already had the same idea. Of course. As always, however, the key will be in the execution.
What is my perspective on the issue?
It appears that there is a clear need for innovation on this matter, and the inquiry stands as to whether such innovation is both requisite and sustainable, as well as how it may be innovatively actualized. Should an idea be capable of brilliantly answering these queries, it should be pursued with fervor. That being said, do not hesitate to consider alternative perspectives for each of the options contemplated, as creativity remains indispensable to any ideation process.
Thanks for reading!
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