Patreon And Reddit Team Up To Help Creators Build Larger Communities

Changes are coming to Reddit after a partnership with Patreon — a crowdfunding membership platform for creators — in hopes to help users further promote their work, build up their brand, and generate communities, reports the Verge. These changes will roll out slowly, via small integrations.

Reddit and Patreon are hopeful that these changes will make Patreon accounts more noticeable and aid Reddit creators in spreading their brand and work to a wider audience. Users’ Patreon accounts will be made visible on their Reddit accounts and subreddits, with a “Patreon” flair appearing beside the Reddit users’ name who supports a specific creator on Patreon.

By incorporating these flair icons, Reddit and Patreon believe creators will peak curiosities, gain popularity, and build up a bigger following. Seeing the “Patreon” flair will also allow creators to see who is supporting them, which could potentially lead to improved interactions between creators and loyal members, especially for those creators who maintain their own subreddit.

The internet’s most prominent creators and YouTube or Twitch personalities frequently host their own subreddits. These forums are used as a way to engage with their fans, add to their own streams, and provide commentary on events or subjects which their fans are concerned over. Indeed, many Patreon creators also already use subreddits or various other platforms as a way to communicate with their supporters as well.

Reddit and Patreon’s new partnership will also include a Reddit widget on the creators’ Patreon pages, which will link new members to the creators’ specific subreddit.

In a joint press release, Reddit and Patreon announced their goal. They hope to make subscribing to creators on Patreon easier, while simultaneously supporting community pages and subreddits. This hopeful integration rolled out to a select few Patreon creators on Wednesday, October 23; however, the companies expect to expand availability across even more creators by the end of this month.

Patreon states their own personal mission on their website. They also boast having over $350 million USD sent out to creators on average, stating that the typical patron pays “more on a monthly basis than consumers pay for Netflix, Spotify, or Amazon Prime.” The platform gives creators total creative freedom to express themselves, their art, talent, and brand, with “no strings attached.”

“Membership allows [creators] like you to have a direct relationship with your biggest fans, get recurring revenue for your work, and create on your own terms.”

To learn more about Patreon, visit their website.