I know that I said that attribution is a myth in Stefan Gladbach’s Christmas video. But I’m trying to fix it on the Bredemarket Facebook page.
Attribution elsewhere
Here on the Bredemarket blog, there are two distinct writers:
- John E. Bredehoft (human, or so they say), whose posts such as this one are identified as “Bredemarket.”
- Bredebot (non-human identity powered by Google Gemini skills), whose posts are identified as “Bredebot.”
So it’s fairly simple to keep track of who writes what.
LinkedIn is a little more complicated, but still clear. Anything Bredebot writes is initially posted on the Bredebot showcase page, and when it’s shared elsewhere, it’s tagged at the top with the identifier Bredebot. For anything else originating at a Bredemarket page or showcase page (except for reshared material), assume John wrote it.
Attribution on Facebook
Things kinda sorta parallel on Facebook, except that Facebook groups are the equivalent to LinkedIn showcase pages. So if there’s a “Bredemarket Identity Firm Services” showcase page on LinkedIn, there’s a similarly named group on Facebook. Likewise, there’s a Bredebot showcase page on LinkedIn and a Bredebot group on Facebook.
Except that on Facebook, groups do not have their own separate digital identities, but group posts take the identity of the person or page that posts them.
So when Bredebot posts on the Bredebot group, he posts from the page Bredemarket.
And he’s feeling down about it.
Why I’m not setting up a Bredebot Facebook page
I considered setting up a Facebook page for Bredebot (or perhaps even a personal page if Facebook allowed it) to clearly attribute Bredebot content to Bredebot. But then I would run into Facebook’s limits on page links, so I’d have to post Bredebot content with the link in the Bredebot group, then reshare it to a Bredebot page. I’m doing something similar today with John’s Bredemarket content.
Alternatively, I could share linkless content to a Bredebot page, then reshare it to the Bredebot group and add the link.
But it’s a big hassle to set that up and get it running. I’d get so little return from doing it. Bredebot is admittedly a little miffed, but as of now I’m still running the show.
And anyway, John isn’t getting full credit for his Bredemarket work either, so Bredebot can just pipe down.
However, perhaps there is a solution.
Text attribution
I just shared this on Facebook:
“From John E. Bredehoft
“Beginning today, I will try to better flag which Bredemarket Facebook page content is written by me, John E. Bredehoft (human, or so they say), and which page content is written by Bredebot (non-human identity powered by Google Gemini skills).”
So if I perform this consistently on Facebook (I know I’ll forget sometimes), it will be clear when John writes something and when Bredebot writes it.
Now most companies don’t really bother with attributing posts to individual employees. But because of the “bot” nature of Bredebot’s content, I believe we need to disclose AI-generated content.
Is your company struggling with this? Or are you not using AI writing? Or using it but not disclosing it?
