Social Media and AI—Artificial Intelligence—are becoming inextricably linked. As we plow forward into the world of artificial intelligence, we’re learning that teaching robots how to think and create like humans can have consequences. How do we balance automation and humanity? How do we use the technology available and protect our audiences?
The publisher’s POV
As the social media landscape changes, content distribution requires multiple platforms. Inevitably, social media teams have to make hard choices while their attention is divided.
First, we have to consider the ethics of AI at large. People are concerned about jobs, social media noise, false information, and more. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. AI algorithms are delivering us content all day, every day—are our own prejudices reinforced by what we’ve taught these machines? Will we perpetuate division and stereotypes by only feeding people the information they want to hear?
I have no answers. The industry will be muddling through for the rest of our existence.
However, if we can embrace the technology for what it is, we can find ways to use the tool to innovate and grow. The result could be incredibly powerful.
Short-staffed teams are scrambling to meet 24/7 content demands. They’re adding new platform strategies and content formats to their daily schedule. It’s almost impossible to do everything well, and assistance is not just a relief—it’s essential. A burnt-out team is not going to give you quality content.
Enter AI social assistance.
Where social media and AI collide, teams can breathe. Relieving your team from the grind of hourly posting and constant scheduling is a game-changer. With a good AI tool like True Anthem, the scheduling is almost entirely handled by the software. Posting cadence, content selection, and even the first comment are no longer tedious tasks executed by an overworked team.
Your team will have time to research and create. They’ll have time to innovate. This is a world where your brand can thrive—a team that is nimble and free from the tedium of day-to-day posting can do big things.
Set and forget sounds like a terrifying way to approach social media, but it doesn’t have to be. Doing work on the back end—ensuring your content is well-selected and properly formatted—means that the machines will do the menial work. Your team has already done the hard part.
The consumer’s POV
This is where things get dicey, right? We all understand how AI can make things easier for publishers, but what does social media in AI mean for readers? Creating powerhouse content is time-consuming and requires a personal touch. These are things that no amount of AI will ever be able to replace.
As publishers embrace AI in their posting and content creation, readers are becoming increasingly suspicious of what appears in their feeds. Image and video manipulation, robotic copy, and spammy engagement are all red flags that instill immediate distrust.
As a result, the publisher’s job is even harder. Your team has to work harder to create believable and authentic content. Not only that, they need to engage and remain present to help cultivate trust from your audience. Content follow-ups, fact-checking, responding to reader questions, and cross-platform consistency are essential.
If a publisher does their job well, the reader should not know the difference between content posted by AI and manually posted content. Additionally, the engagement work and content selection done by the team should minimize any disconnect between the publisher and the reader.
What does all this mean? Are social media and AI compatible?
Ultimately, what is at stake is your authenticity and credibility. Readers know when a robot is speaking to them. The social media team needs to use some of the time freed up by AI tools to engage the audience in new ways and move forward.
The tools are powerful, and they require a large amount of discretion and responsibility. If used wisely, both the publisher and reader stand to gain a lot in the way of innovation and information.
