The release of ChatGPT has been transformative to say the least. How does this effect me I wonder? I have an AI agent on my landing page at www.brumbycapital.com which I have been experimenting with. Much like almost all computer programs - it is great at repetitive chores (I have loaded it up with my last 100 substack posts - so it can tell you my recent thoughts on anything). But plainly it does not have access to all the different experiences that have come to effect my thinking. So I could make an AI agent that communicates like me… but not think like me.
But as I learnt a long time ago. Original thinking is all good and well, but if no one knows you are original then wants the point? What I am trying say, is that an internet that is moving from Google centric to AI centric may mean I need to change how I operate. Does ChatGpt mean I need to change my marketing? For the first time since Google came to dominate search there is now a real competition in the search space. When you Google search “Russell Clark” I am the first hit after a biography of a dead actor. When I first started out - I was a second page result at best!
But on Chat Gpt… nothing.
Deepseek was good enough to have me on the front page… Sadly it called me a Kiwi manager based out of Tokyo - not true. Also a big short seller of Tesla… also not true
Of course if you really want to find me you can. But the biggest effect of ChatGPT is that click through rates to underlying websites will get affected. Google offers up links. AI basically tells you all you need to know, and does not prompt you to other websites. This change has already effected clickthrough rates to underlying websites. The Economist shows this.
This makes a lot of sense to me. Clicking through to websites from a Google search is an exercise in dodging pop ups and banner ads, while Chat GPT gives you an ad free summary. Asking it how I invest gives a decent summary.
No live links to Brumby Capital or www.russell-clark.com there. This does have real world consequences. Reddit has lagged the market this year. There have been other losers as well.
There have been other losers from this as websites find less and less traffic. Is this a problem for me? Well according to Substack I am still seeing rising traffic
Paying subscribers has dipped recently - but I tend to see an uptick in bear markets and a drop down in bullish markets - which makes sense to me.
The risk is that text based searches for me get throttled at the source with AI. Intriguingly AI struggle to scrape videos. Transcripts of the podcast I do with posts also tends to be full of errors - so I can see why AI does better with written matetial rather than video or audio. This does make me think that I need to move to more video presentations - and to start looking at posting more to Tiktok. Why? My original business model was always to produce a substantial amount of free content to draw people into either the paid content or investing in the fund. But if AI is going to slow that flow - or break the links, then I need to alter how I market. One option would be to use TikTok more. I have posted a a few videos on Tiktok already - and when I search for myself in Tiktok it throws up the right videos. And, as everyone knows, you can add links to the bio as well.
Why TikTok or not Youtube or Instagram? What I like about Tiktok is that its ads tend to be skippable. I also trust the TikTok algorithm more than I trust Youtube or Instagram. I feel like my videos are more likely to be presented to people interested in my topics. Who knows but an AI centric web means I need to change my style slightly. And TikTok looks like the answer.
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