ChatGPT & LinkedIn - The Good, The Bad, and the Questions
Bruce Johnston
Sales and Marketing Consultant. LinkedIn Specialist: LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Consulting and LinkedIn Coaching
? We have all seen the wild headlines:?
“I fired my marketing dept and replaced five people with ChatGPT”
“We made up a fake person and she got admitted to an Ivy league School”
Does ChatGPT deserve all the hype?
What does it really mean??
And how can we use it on LinkedIn??
What is ChapGPT?
We have lots of AI in our lives already?
Here’s how ChatGPT differs from other apps:
ChapGPT is free, though there was a premium service launched February 1 called ChatGPTPlus that promised better access and a few other features.
Google is coming out with its competitive offering called Bard. Bard promises more nuanced responses, showing both sides of an argument for example.
As Bard will use whatever info is on the web, it will be more up to date than ChatGPT
And Microsoft now is coming out with “Bing with AI” which - according to Microsoft - will be a much more powerful chat oriented search than ChatGPT itself.?
The Good About ChaptGPT (On Face Value)
But Then You Start Seeing The Limitations
Unlike a search engine, it just doesn’t take what it finds and cut and paste it in the results, or just show you a link, but distills what it finds into its own version. In this sense it is original, but the downside is it is only going on what it finds, and it may interpolate info from different sources
It can be wrong and I mean really wrong. Note that both Microsoft and Google when they announced early versions combined with search on Feb 8 both had huge disclaimers about whether results were correct or biased.?
And Unanswered Questions
There are already companies developing apps to detect ChaptGPT or assign probability that AI was used in content generation
At present, anything you create on ChatGPT belongs to you. ChatGPT confers all rights to that info to you. That could change.?
If you use the ChatGPT to write a post, are you ethically required to say so in the post?
There are also possible issues with plagiarism. You don’t necessarily know where ChatGPT got its source material.?
What Does This Mean For Content On LinkedIn?
Anyone can create content, though the “create” is open to interpretation.
Content will now be cheap. It will potentially flood places like LinkedIn.?
Many of the use cases I have seen seem ridiculous:?
We Also Don’t Know What LinkedIn Will Do
Microsoft owns a chunk of ChatGPT's parent company. Microsoft owns LinkedIn. Seems pretty obvious LinkedIn will embrace ChaptGPT.
If ChatGPT helps generate more content that LinkedIn users want to see, great. But if ChatGPT is used to blindly generate content and swamps our LinkedIn feeds…not so great.?
For everyone who is already complaining that their posts' reach is getting worse and worse, what if ChatGPT brings three times as many posts to compete with?
Your content will have to be outstanding to rise above the crowd.?
Even if you want it to write posts, those posts should be carefully proofread. Remember these are going out under you or your company’s name.?
Okay, So What Are The Use Cases On LinkedIn?
I see three good uses, and a possible fourth.
1) for content ideas - “write an article giving me ten examples of how ChatGPT can be used on LinkedIn”
2) or content optimization - “give me ten variations on a headline for this article”
3) expanding content or contracting it. ChatGPT can turn a 100 word paragraph into a 200 word paragraph, or into a one sentence summary.?
4) possibly repurposing old content. I originally thought this was a good one until I did some experimenting with some old content from a customer. The revised ChatGPT versions were not usable or even reworkable. Maybe I need to refine my instructions more effectively, so the jury is still out on whether it’s me or ChatGPT that is the problem here.?
But the first three are good use cases, for generating ideas and alternative ways of getting them across. I think ChatGPT’s best use is overcoming writer’s block.?
Summary
ChapGPT represents a change. The popular line will be that it democratizes writing. While true, I think that it will democratize mediocre writing. LinkedIn will likely get flooded with mediocre content. That represents an opportunity for people writing good content that people want to read and that people find engaging. So use ChapGPT to help you come up with ideas, but then do the writing yourself. The one thing ChatGPT can’t do is speak with your voice.
Oh and those five people that were laid off back at the start of this article? I heard they got hired to replace the admissions people that that Ivy League School fired for admitting fake people.
Want more like this? I publish a weekly email newsletter on using LinkedIn effectively for Sales and Marketing. Each newsletter typically contains two articles like the one above, it’s free, and you can unsubscribe anytime. Here’s a link to the sign up page: https://practicalsmm.com/contact/
Obligatory boilerplate: I do not work for or have any association with LinkedIn, other than being a user who pays them for his Sales Navigator subscription every month.?
My personal view on ChatGPT is that I am rather disappointed. I write and edit for a living and so get to see a lot of submissions and if a human wrote this sort of stuff I would advise them to get a professional copy editor, and maybe even first try to work out what it is they are trying to say. To me ChatGPT is just very good at producing low-value fluff that sounds like the sort of conversation you could be having in a pub after your fifth beer when you just keep on talking even though the conversation no longer has any point, because the alternative would involve going home. Or it sounds as if some underpaid high-school kid could be writing this stuff if you required them to supply an article on a vague topic but haven't briefed them on what you want it say, and the kid is too lazy and unmotivated to work it out for themselves. Why is this? First of all ChatGPT is defensive. If you want to captivate your audience you need to surprise them. This takes bravery and boldness and maybe even involves risking upsetting or alienating those who disagree with you. ChatGPT sounds like Tony Blair addressing the Chelsea pensioners. It's all friendly and non committal and empty and ultimately just words with no meaning.
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1 年This is a great summary of the pros and cons of AI in general. I agree with your approach which is well-documented. I would love to expand the AI idea to images with tools like MidJourney which are even more game-changing when it comes to images for LinkedIn
chicken whisperer?voice-in-the-wilderness?the thinking man's circular knitting machine mechanic
1 年ChatGTP has been great in the course I am taking. Now, trust me, I apply myself to any of the homework that I feel relevant to what I am learning, but you know as well as I do, that many assignments in course such like this are just made to make you do something. To compile a list of ideas quickly and efficiently, ChatGTP is far superior to spending time search on Google or Bing. As for LinkedIn, I have yet to use it.
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1 年I wouldn't be counting on it just yet...
Go To Market (GTM) strategies with actionable steps ?? Building & cultivating relationships with key stakeholders.??B2B Marketing ??Business Development ??Channel Management??LinkedIn Geek ??
1 年1) Bard is out already, just not in all geographies 2) What's with the picture? Was it a suggestion by ChatGPT?