Patreon "Collections": Let's Brainstorm! (Patreon)
Content
Happy Friday, friends! While I'm getting my morning started with coffee and assorted YouTube videos running in the background because heaven forbid I don't have random people talking while I try to focus, I wanted to invite you all to participate in helping me shape a big part of the experience here on Patreon! If you would be so kind as to read this post and answer some of the questions at the end, I would greatly appreciate it!
The newly introduced "Collections" feature is a big step Patreon has made towards letting Creators curate the browsing experience for patrons outside of search and tags, which is actually really exciting! For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the feature, here's the example I swiped from Patreon's help page because I'm too lazy to go screenshot it myself:
As you can gather from the image above, Collections are sort of like playlists curated by the creator that deal with various topics. Currently I have a collection for Character Bios and Character Playlists, but I see Collections working in a couple of very specific ways.
- Evergreen content that gets buried over time. (Bios, artwork, music playlists, etc.)
- Flagship content/series. (BitterSweet, other upcoming projects like Shattered, etc.)
- Less prominent series with enough content/hype to warrant attention. (Bunny Finn, etc.)
- Thematically related content that are absolute bangers. (Dominant or Submissive with flavor like bondage/toys/spanking, throwback audios to early YuuriVoice that are fan favorites to this day, comfort audios, etc.)
Now let my highlight ways that I DON'T see Collections working.
- Broad genres or umbrella themes. (Safe For Work, Not Safe For Work, Dominant, Submissive, etc.)
- Specific Characters. (Alphonse, Seth, etc.)
- Specific kinks or topics. (Choking, spanking, etc.)
In short, I don't think Collections should be used as "tags, but worse" because tags allow for specific sorting functions, list options, etc. and Collections do not, because they are specifically curated by the creator. Getting super specific and granular with collections defeats the purpose because if I just make a collection that has 100+ posts in it, I've just recreated the same issue that Patreon has always had with endless scrolling in search of content.
By creating collections that aren't overwhelmingly massive (hard to say how big, maybe 40-ish posts at most unless it's absolutely necessary for a series like Bittersweet) you make sure that people get a positive browsing experience and get their hands on content they may not have otherwise found in the sea of content scrolling endlessly or sorting through tags.
There is one risk I foresee, which is new patrons thinking that collections are all there is. Rather than looking at the "NSFW Audio" tag and seeing however many hundreds there are, they just go to collections and think that's it. I don't THINK that's how that would play out, but I'm trying to cover all my bases and see problems before they become problems. I think updating the welcome message new patrons get could easily deal with that if I clearly explain things and set new patrons up for success!
This is where you come in, I have a few questions for you all!
- Does my plan for Collections make sense to you, in general?
- Do you think, when implemented, Collections will help you find content you may not have otherwise found during your time as a patron?
- How has your experience been with tags and search when looking for content on Patreon? Is there a specific way that Collections could help work around issues with tags/search that I haven't already mentioned?
- Do you have any big ideas for a specific Collection outside of the examples I've already listed?
If I've missed anything or you have any kind of additional thoughts to share, by all means go right ahead! My goal is to have at least some collections implemented by the end of the month, so your input is greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read and playing a part in shaping what my Patreon looks like moving forward!