Patreon CEO Jack Conte Wants You to Get Off of Your Phone

image via WIRED

October 7, 2025, 10:30 AM

• •Conte believes the internet is "TikTokified", favoring short-form content and surface-level interactions.
• •Patreon aims to build a system that prioritizes valuable content and deep, lasting connections between creators and audiences.
• •Conte is critical of the term "influencer" and the focus on maximizing attention, promoting the idea of creators.
• •Conte wants AI platforms to compensate creators for using their work.

Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon, prefers the term "creators" over "influencers" to describe artists building fanbases that pay for their work online, advocating for a shift away from the attention-maximizing algorithms of platforms like TikTok. Conte founded Patreon to enable artists to receive direct support from their fans, moving beyond ad revenue models. The company has paid out billions to creators, and Conte aims to counteract the "TikTokification" of the internet by fostering deeper connections between creators and their audiences. He emphasizes the importance of valuable content and long-term relationships over short-term engagement and the ethical considerations surrounding AI's impact on creative work.

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