The Internet Runs on Trusted Voices
I keep seeing an older video circulating where the Patreon CEO, Jack Conte, was discussing the concept of “Death of the Follower”. He wasn’t talking about this in regards to Patreon, but rather where other social platforms are leading us away from being able to actually interact with the people we follow with the way they structure their feeds & content now.
Outside of just this video, for a long time I have been hearing so many people talk about how algorithms are making it so they feel like they can’t find or connect with people they actually want to anymore (from both a casual user & the creator perspective). Algorithms have made it so people have to try to game the system. There are formulas, different hooks you should use, different ways you should export videos, what time of day to post, what cadence you should post. The needle is always moving too, because once someone figures it out, all it takes is a tweak to the logic behind the algorithm.
We know that it’s changing the way people are creating, just so they can force themselves into the box that a tech company has defined as the successful way to breakthrough or gain an audience.
It’s so funny though, because the death of the follower couldn’t be further from the truth for me. With this noise, I find myself so fatigued by looking at any feed powered by an algorithm, unsure if I even saw something that connected with me. Finding trusted voices on the internet is the way that I navigate this. I FOLLOW people. Instagram Stories is the most used feature that I have on socials. It feels like the only place that I can actually see content from my own family & friends OR the creators I choose to follow.
I am also using Substack (clearly). I also use the platform that I’ve built, Pearl Music. Which has intentionally been built without AI or algorithms, but that is only music centered, there are other types of content that I like to see, which requires other platforms to be used as well.
You know that saying where you are the sum of the closest people around you, well that is also true for the internet & digital spaces. Whether we like to admit or not, social media is one of the top ways that most people consume what is going on in the world, so the community you form in the digital world & things you consume, are part of how you literally view the world.
I find that trusted voices are much more valuable online than a sea of content that is being fed to you from a blackbox algorithm. How do you even know what is true these days? What are the credentials of these people speaking on the topic? Just because someone has good communication & can speak with authority, doesn’t mean they aren’t completely full of shit. We all know those people... the ones who got blessed with unwavering confidence & a strong communication style, then use it to become the loudest person in the room.
So what do I think makes a trusted person to follow on the internet?
Expression
I look for authentic voices. If I am listening to someone online, I want it to feel like I am having a conversation with them 1:1. It doesn’t feel forced or over-performed. After recording videos myself, I actually feel like this is tougher than you’d think. It’s unnatural to be talking to a phone & know that this could result in something that can live to be replayed.
Immersion
I could give a fuck about a person’s opinion on something if they’ve never experienced or lived it. We all have access to endless amounts of information at our fingertips, so anybody can read about or intellectualize a topic these days BUT not everyone has actually lived it.
One thing that has really bugged me has been all of these people online over this past year have been talking about software engineering & its death in relation to AI. So many think pieces on how anyone will be able to build software now & most of the pieces are coming from people who have never worked on a production system in their life. I want to hear from other engineers who are actively using it for their workflows on a production system. Those are the people who should be talking on the realities of building with AI. Same with other fields where this is being used for creation. I don’t need to hear theories about this changes music creation, let’s hear from artists & producers who are actually using it.
Not that everyone needs to be an expert to talk on something, as long as they are honest about where they are at in the process & aren’t trying to use a beginner level experience to speak with authority over the whole topic. It’s valuable to hear from beginners online & it is quite vulnerable for beginners to post online. They are showing the imperfections of something or how they dove into this thing, which can inspire other people who are thinking of beginning OR show other beginners they aren’t alone in whatever field they are tackling.
Point of View
I find this to be the biggest differentiator when it comes to a creator. Every person is the only one in the world with their unique story & lens of this world. A collection of all of your wisdom or experiences in life, help shape this thing & is a filter that can be applied to anything you do. If you don’t form your own point of view & you are just copy / paste from what masses of people think that is where things start to contradict itself & waver.
A strong point of view doesn’t necessarily mean a strong stance or ideology, rather it is the through line to every single thing you talk about. It is a point of connection with someone who sees the world similarly to you. Or it gives people the opportunity to see a new point of view & perspective.
A few people I can think of off the top of my head who have undeniably brought their point of view into the work they do: Chelsea Handler, Leanne Morgan, Anthony Bourdain, Charli XCX, Dave Portnoy, Ilona Maher, Theo Von. Not that this is an exhaustive list or I agree with every point of view, but there is a clear through-line in their work that ties back to their lens of the world.
Consistency
Is the person consistent enough that you can build up enough trust in the first place & get to know who they are as a creator?
I find that it also isn’t about overly posting or having an opinion on everything. That creates a lot of noise, & eventually leads to a loss of trust because it then makes the person doubt the immersion & point of view. Are you actually immersed if you are constantly online or writing? Did you have time to fully marinate & think through that to have a point of view?
Honesty & Vulnerability
The days of social media just being a highlight reel feels like it’s coming to an end. As humans we are all going through the highs & lows of life at any time, we don’t want to feel alone in that. The cost of connection, is being able to be vulnerable. If you can’t do that out of fear or ego, you will only be able to get so far. I find that honesty & vulnerability go hand in hand here, because we usually only lie to avoid vulnerability & exposure.
Honesty ties back to what I discussed about in immersion, if you are talking about a topic be honest about where you are at & your level of expertise.
I feel like everyone has some combination of tools to be able to do all of these things in their own way & with their own passions if they are called to that. There are so many lanes out there & different communities. Despite the hopelessness that we may all feel with the state of a lot of the major social platforms, there are people out there that will be interested in following new stories & hearing new perspectives. I know the trusted voices that I follow are what is carrying me through using these social platforms at this point… & I am always finding new ones or looking for more.
One creator I’ve trusted for years has been... Taylor Strecker.
I ride for Taylor Strecker (Hey Girl Hey!). I think she has done a great job of building a community.
Taylor originally started with a radio show on Sirius XM that she had for 11 years, where she started building her community… until eventually she got fired (which she does not shy away from opening up about!) This eventually prompted her to create her own independent daily radio show, that now lives on Patreon. Her fans followed her & the community has grown over the years. I started listening in 2019, which was the early days of the independent radio show. I have not seen a community quite like this. Taylor has provided the blueprint for so many other voices & podcasters out there. She is best friends with Stassi Schroeder & actually inspired Stassi to start her first podcast. She brought Hannah Berner on as a guest on her radio show in the earlier days, before Hannah was even on Summer House, & helped inspire Hannah with podcasting (there may be no Giggly Squad without Taylor Strecker).
She is still putting her voice out there 5 days a week, along with the podcast Stassi With Tay on Netflix.
I remember initially finding her on Stassi Schroeder’s podcast. I was listening & she mentioned that she was a late-in-life lesbian & my ears perked up & I needed to hear more about her. This was during a period where I moved across the country & was dealing with my own sexuality & coming out process. It felt like that show is what helped me through that time because Taylor was very candid about her own struggles with coming out & her relationship with her now wife, Taylor (yes, they are both named Taylor).
She was also who I listened to everyday during the pandemic too. They pivoted from in the studio to doing a radio show every day from home, & we were all along for the ride. She brings her audience along for the ride for the major things that are happening in her life & it takes such a level of consistency & vulnerability. Whether it be her wedding, her fears when she was going on tour with Stassi, the IVF process & having her first child with her wife.
She also does this with such a great cast of co-hosts that she has rotating throughout the years. It even got to the point where there became an award show every year with all of the co-hosts & the community. It amplifies those other voices as well.
To bring this back to Jack Conte, his belief & what he is building with Patreon is to have more independent creative ecosystems, where people can actually form 1:1 relationships with followers with monetization. Although Jack said this back in 2024, I think AI has only pushed us further down the algorithm paradigm & further away from the goal of independent creative ecosystems. BUT I do still believe this is the future of the internet & creation. People who create or share their story on the internet, with whatever medium, need places where they can actually reach their people & create a sustainable career. I rely on these people I follow for inspiration, entertainment, learning, connection & people who put themselves out there like that, deserve a world where they are getting properly compensated for their contribution to communities. This is the backbone of the internet.
