Please don’t read this post if you are conservative. After 1,000 epsiodes and 5 million downloads of our 25 weekly podcasts on Personal Life Media I asked our sensuality hosts to nominate their “personal best” favorite episodes.

Here are their recommendations. Enjoy. Send to your friends. Support our sponsors and send us feedback on what you liked, on what we can improve and issues you’d like us to address.

The Fearless Lover
Episode 16: Celebrating the Masculine and Feminine with Rajyo Markman and Britta Johnson

Episode 1: Fearless Love and Living an Inspired Life

Just for Women: Dating, Relationships and Sex
Just for Women #26: “Living an Empowered Life” with NY Times Best Selling Author, Speaker and Expert Relationship Coach, Debbie Ford

Just for Women #07: “The REAL Source of a Woman’s Power ” with Experts Dr. Danielle Harel & Celeste Hirschman

Just for Women #43: Tripp Lanier, host of “The New Man,” shares his insight about What MEN want!

The New Man: Beyond the Macho Jerk and the New Age Wimp
The New Man #018 (part 2 is #019): Bryan Bayer: The Authentic Man Program, Part 1

The New Man #016 (part 2 is #017): Alissa Kriteman: Just for Women

Expanded Lovemaking with Dr. Patti
Episode 15: Thrill Her through Coreplay and Moreplay with Ian Kerner

Episode 31: Secrets of an Escort: What Men Really Want with Veronica Monet

Cultivating Energy For Healing, Sexual Bliss, Lovemaking and Transcendence with Mantak Chia

Tantra & Kama Sutra
Episode 22: Divine Nectar with Tallulah Sulis, Educator, Somatic and Female Expert

Episode 41: Igniting O Meditation with Nicole Daedone: Founder, OneTaste™ Urban Retreat and Insight Institute

Sex, Love and Intimacy with Chip

Episode Index – You Choose

A Taste of Sex: Reality Audio
#32: Monogamy

#19: The Calculating Minds of Women

#13: Power Dynamics and Sex

A Taste of Sex: Poetry Readings
#30: Up, Up and Over

#21: Like He Speaks

A Taste of Sex: Guest Speaker Interviews
#38: The Sacred Art of Lovemaking

#34 Deborah Sundahl, Female Spot Expert

On the Minds of Men: Uncensored Sex Talk with Dr. Lori
OMM 015: “Oral” with Mark Phelan

OMM 011: S*xy Talk with Mark Phelan

Meet Mary Brown, expert in the Baby Boomer generation. Mary has written the definitive book on Boomers called “BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer – The Baby Boomer Woman.” On this episode, she closes the gap on what we collectively know about Boomers with the latest research and insight into this all-powerful demographic.

If you’re interested in this alluring demographic, please also search this blog for all of Joseph Carrabis’ guest posts on Boomers and Social Networking. His insights are fascinating too.

Mary Brown, JWT BOOM on Boomer Archetypes, Seasoned Sexuality and the “Club Sandwich Generation”

Mary shares the key takeaways from some of the most interesting presentations at the recent Livewire Summit she produced. Find out what Gene Cohen, behavioral scientist has to say about “Mirror Mirror on the Wall, What is Aging After All?” Jonathan Pontell’s insights into the Generation Jones cohort and Richard Adler’s “Boomer’s the Next 30 Years” also give us some new data to consider.

Get more detail with the “Boomers and Social Networking” executive summary from Boomer Pulse by Sharon Whitely and a Boomer Trends Study “Boomers: The Next 20 Years Map of Future Landscape Affecting Boomers” by the Institute for the Future in the Related Links to this show by clicking the links below.

Related Links:

• Support DishyMix – Take My Listener Survey
• Boomer Trends IFTF.org
• JWT BOOM
• “Boomer Pulse” on Social Networking
• BOOM:Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer — The Baby-Boomer Woman Book
• LiveWire: The Summit
• Boomer’s Online Behavior Research

Congratulations to Colleen Fischer, Justin, Christina Poletto, Jennifer Murray, Jeannie McLaughlin and Dan – six DishyMix fans who are being awarded an autographed copy of “Can We Do That: Outrageous PR Stunts that Work — And Why Your Company Needs Them,” by DishyMix guest Peter Shankman, creator of HelpAReporter.com. If you haven’t checked out http://helpareporter.com yet, go sign up!

Get Free Goodies From DishyMix Guests. Join the DishyMix Facebook Fan Club. I’ll never spam you.

Listen to Peter’s episode:

Peter Shankman, “Hottest Male Blogger,” on How To Help A Reporter, Outrageous PR Stunts and Adrenaline Addiction

Congratulations to Pierre Khawand, Jeffrey Borrowdale, Linlin Wells, Sarah Hibner and RL Samson. They are Facebook DishyMix Fan Club members who won free copies of Ori Brafman’s book, SWAY.

Join the DishyMix Facebook Fan Club to get free goodies and schwag and I’ll never spam you.

Ori Brafman, Author of “Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior” on Purchase Psychology, Interview Insights and Employee Incentives

My friend Jim Sterne read a Twitter post I made. Click Here to Follow Me on Twitter. My neighbors were having a Republican fund raiser for Arnold Shwarzenegger next door and I Twittered this:

Republican fund raiser next store. The Governator is there, along with secret service. I really need to sell my house.

Jim sent me an email poem to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies that was so funny I had to share it.

Come and listen to a story about a girl named Suze
Liberal gal in a conservative neighborhood
When one day she was lookin’ o’er her fence
And heard the Governator not makin’ any sense.

Budget that is – cash wars – minimum wage decree

Well the first thing you know ol’ Suze’s anger flairs
Kinfolk said, “Suze move away from there!”
Said “Santa Barbara is the place you ought to be.”
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Montecee-to.

Swells that is. Commuting pools, hybrid cars.

Y’all come back down here, y’hear?.

“Buddhist Geeks,” “Conscious Business” and “The New Man” outsource sponsorship.

Los Altos, CA (PRWEB) August 14, 2008 — Personal Life Media™, Inc. a publisher of lifestyle podcasts and blogs for people on the leading edge of culture, announces that three popular shows have joined the podcast advertising network bringing the total line up to 25 weekly audio shows and one daily vidcast along with their companion blogs. “Buddhist Geeks,” “Conscious Business” and “The New Man” offer enlightening and motivational content for consumers, in line with the PLM content strategy.

“Buddhist Geeks,” hosted by Vince Horn and Ryan Oelke explores the integration of Buddhist philosophy in modern life. Their tag line, “Seriously Buddhist, Seriously Geeky” is a true expression of both the depth and lighthearted nature of the format. “Conscious Business,” hosted by Theo Horesch, helps listeners reach their full potential at work by being mindful of the impact of business on people and the planet “The New Man,” hosted by Tripp Lanier provides the modern male a fun yet meaningful alternative to the mainstream media’s obsession with six-pack abs, pickup lines and celebrity fashion tips. Personal Life Media will add the collective archives of more than 100 episodes of the three news shows to the network in addition to providing all future distribution of new shows.

“The editorial positioning of these shows is so on target for “what’s happening now” and the content so important in the evolution of our culture that we are truly honored to include them in our network,” said Susan Bratton, co-founder and CEO of Personal Life Media.

Since September 2007, Personal Life Media has been adding established shows to the network, exclusively managing sponsorship sales. Using VoloMedia’s (http://volomedia.com) dynamic ad serving, the network monetizes downloadable media with pre-, mid- and post-roll audio and video ads, advertorials, host endorsements and product integration into their network of shows, packaging audiences by contextually relevant subject matter.

The Latest Personal Life Media Shows Reveal & Inspire

All shows from Personal Life Media may be accessed at http://personallifemedia.com or in iTunes

Buddhist Geeks: Seriously Buddhist, Seriously Geeky

Buddhist Geeks is a weekly audio show, hosted by Vince Horn and Ryan Oelke that presents groundbreaking interviews and discussions with Buddhist teachers, scholars, and advanced practitioners. Combining ancient wisdom with modern technology, Buddhist Geeks aims to catalyze a community of practitioners committed to awakening. Discover the emerging face of Western Buddhism.

Ryan Oelke, host of Buddhist Geeks says, “As for the nature of the conversations on Buddhist Geeks, I see them like this: imagine talking with an admirable, inspirational teacher, author, or practitioner, maybe over coffee or tea. At some point in the conversation you naturally hit upon some amazing insights. I think we try to capture that feeling in what we do. We try to be very practical, and yet personable in our interviews, which I think is a distinguishing characteristic.”

Listen Now

Subscribe in iTunes

Conscious Business: Social Responsibility, Institutional Innovation and Missions that Matter

Conscious Business, hosted by Theo Horesch represents the leading edge of business innovation. This show looks at the emerging world of conscious business and examines the strategies, leaders, cultural conditions and new markets that are driving its evolution. Topics include issues of distributed leadership, the growing importance of mutual trust and respect in business, and actualizing high ideas in a business environment. Listen to dialogs on revolutionary topics with influential thought leaders in all walks of business and professional development. If you want to “do good” while “doing well,” this show will light the way.

Theo Horesch, host of Conscious Business says, “Three decades of management gurus have finally institutionalized innovation, teamwork, lifetime learning, and missions that matter. Conscious business is the result.” “In an age of social networks and information overload, every stakeholder has the potential to make or break the reputation of every business. The businesses that succeed are now the businesses that serve.”

Listen Now
Subscribe in iTunes

The New Man: Beyond the Macho Jerk and the New Age Wimp

The New Man, hosted by Tripp Lanier lives a life where his actions in the world line up with his deepest values and convictions. He’s aware that there’s more to life than just earning a living, having six pack abs and finding someone with whom to spend the night. In other words, The New Man lives a life of meaning, finds integrity in every moment and always looks for his truest expression. Listen in as we have fun, entertaining discussions with extraordinary men and women exploring what it means to be a New Man.

Tripp Lanier, host of The New Man says, “Through The New Man Podcast we’ve learned that relationships improve, careers improve and general well being improves dramatically for those men who are willing to be honest with themselves and quit settling for less than their potential. And the exploration makes for a fun and entertaining listen, too.”

Listen Now
Subscribe in iTunes

About Personal Life Media
Personal Life Media is a multimedia lifestyle brand providing entertaining and authentic personal content to socially conscious adults, and is the first podcast and blog advertising network for advertisers to reach the “cultural creatives” market segment. Expert hosts deliver motivational programs, talk shows, reality-audio, interviews, advanced techniques and guided exercises in blogs, web audio, video and podcasting formats.

The network offers 25 free weekly audio and video programs, podcasts and companion blogs about happiness, relationships, sensuality, life purpose, wealth creation, healthy aging and longevity. Additional areas of interest include the men’s movement, life coaching, ecology, creativity, weight-loss, beauty innovation and cosmetic surgery, retirement, conscious business, ethical sales, spirituality, personal and global transformation.

Access the shows for free from a browser or subscribe via RSS or iTunes and listen on an iPod or MP3 player. Personal Life Media is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California.
Media Contact:
Cindy Cooper
Cooper PR, For Personal Life Media
Cindy at personal life media dot com
(408) 806-4683 mobile

Corporate Contact:
Susan Bratton, CEO
Susan at personal life media dot com
(650) 948-0500

Tune In to Your Personal Life

###

Personal Life Media is a trademark of Personal Life Media Inc. Tune In to Your Personal Life is a service mark of Personal Life Media, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective holders and are hereby acknowledged.

AccuQuote, CardScan, IndieFeed, Oceanus Brands, Sinclair Institute and Zen by Design Sign Exclusive Sponsorships.

Los Altos, CA (PRWEB) August 14, 2008 — Personal Life Media™, Inc. a publisher of lifestyle podcasts and blogs for people on the leading edge of culture, made available today a patent-pending audio player widget that distributes multiple podcast RSS feeds. Web widgets are the small modules of content or advertising that a Web user can add to a social network profile, blog or personal start page. The player is free and can be customized by color and size to match any web page or blog as well as to propagate shows in Facebook, MySpace and twenty other sites such as iGoogle and Wordpress using Gigya’s Wildfire widget distribution technology. Users can visually fly back and forth between album art for each show in the widget by controlling “show flow” with a mouse. Most importantly, the player can be branded with a corporate logo for an integrated look and feel.

Marketers who want to distribute germane podcasting content to their site visitors and their social media “friends” use Personal Life Media’s podcast widget to create a sticky branded consumer experience. As each new episode debuts, it automatically gets pushed to the marketer’s “widget.” Any brand can exclusively sponsor episodic podcast content in a customized player that showcases their unique marketing messages. Fans can grab the player and put it on their site, blog or social site, carrying the marketer’s logo and audio ads along with the content. Podcasters often produce multiple shows and now can aggregate their offerings into a single widget freely distributed by their fans.

The widget creator at http://personallifemedia.com/widget is free for any company, podcaster or content fan. Fees may be involved if a marketer prefers to offer shows from Personal Life Media that exclusively feature only their brand’s messages. Otherwise, the shows will feature existing sponsor’s ads.

“Pimp” Your Widget
Three simple steps customize your player:

1.   Select up to five RSS feeds for audio podcasts.
2.   Customize the player’s color and background, pick a size and add a logo.
3.   Click “Get” and insert it directly on a blog, website and more than 20 social media services.

Any time a visitor to the brand’s site wants to “get” the widget for their own site, blog or social media page, the sponsor’s logo will be displayed along with the podcasts that include the sponsor’s marketing messages. This works the same for a podcaster.

Wild For Widgets
Numerous brand marketers and a podcast publisher are using the Personal Life Media audio player widget as of launch:

* AccuQuote has integrated their “Life Insurance Podcast” along with four shows from Personal Life Media including “Aging Gratefully,” “GreenTalk Radio,” “Living Green” and “Coaching by the Life Coach.” The player can be found on their multimedia page and their corporate blog.

* CardScan is distributing “Evolutionary Sales,” “Conscious Business,” “Money, Mission and Meaning,” and “Coaching by the Life Coach” in their customized player.

* Oceanus Naturals is providing “Just For Women,” “Tantra & Kama Sutra,” “Love & Intimacy,” “Expanded Lovem” and “Fearless Lover” to http://forthebestever.com site visitors.

* Sinclair Institute is offering a series of five relationship shows on their Sinclair University site at http://www.bettersex.com/t-bsu-university.aspx.

* Zen by Design, makers of meditation chairs, is featuring “Buddhist Geeks,” “The New Man,” “Your Purpose-Centered Life,” “Living Green” and “GreenTalk Radio” on their site at http://zenbydesign.com along with an additional group of five Personal Life Media shows on relationships at their popular site, http://tantrachair.com.

* Music discovery publisher IndieFeed is using two customized players to distribute 7 weekly music shows on Facebook and MySpace in addition to offering the widget for their fans to get and share for free at http://indiefeed.com.

Quotes
Susan Bratton, CEO and co-founder, Personal Life Media, Inc.
“So many of our sponsors and prospective advertisers requested a way to showcase our content on their site that we created this widget for them.” “This player also supports the downloadable content development community by giving podcasters an easy way to promote their shows.” “Until we created this application with Hologenisis, there have been no multi-player audio widgets available on the market.”

Sean Cheyney Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, AccuQuote.
“The audio player widget allows us to easily share the shows in the Personal Life Media network that are relevant to our customers.” “In addition to placement on our blog and website, the application sharing capability fits into our overall social media strategy.” “Personal Life Media has their finger on the pulse of what brands, publishers, and consumers are looking for, and this easy to use widget is proof positive.”

Alyssa O’Mara, Affiliate and Search Manager – Cardscan, Newell Rubbermaid.
“As a solutions-focused company, it’s important to provide our customers with the information they need to get their job done.” “We chose Personal Life Media because we knew they would be a trusted partner to serve the content our customers want and need.” “Finding new ways to deliver relevant content through the PLM Widget takes very little of our time and resources and was an easy decision to make.”

Chris MacDonald, Founder, IndieFeed
“I chose the Personal Life Media solution for two reasons.” “First, it impressively displays multiple feeds of episodic audio.” “Secondly, the Personal Life Media widget provides the easiest and most engaging consumer experience with the widest possible sharing reach.”

Michael Kehoe, Product Innovation, Oceanus Naturals.
“The widget is a great way for us to offer people free, useful knowledge from intelligent and entertaining hosts.” “When people come to OceanusNaturals.com to learn more about our products, they have the option to listen to Susan’s wonderful shows.”

Martin Smith, Director, eCommerce, Sinclair Institute.
“Adding a Personal Life Media podcast player to the Sinclair Institute University site benefits two audiences.” “Bloggers and webmasters may freely include our widget on their sites easily incorporating helpful content.” “People facing life challenges may use the widget to easily download lessons from the experienced hosts who bring new thinking and experiences to the world of sensuality, intimacy and relationship.” “Now we provide our customers some of our favorite content, right on our site.”

Al Vitaro, President, Zen By Design – Furniture For The Spirit.
“We cater to a specific clientèle in two very niche markets and we were delighted to find that Personal Life Media had created shows that aligned perfectly with our target audience.” “We are especially pleased with the superior quality and content of the broadcasts and equally as pleased with the aesthetics of the widget.” “We are honored to align with Personal Life Media and recommend them in the highest esteem to any person or entity who wishes to add a touch of class and ambiance for their visitors to enjoy.”

About the Design
The Personal Life Media Widget was designed by HoloCosmos and produced by HoloGenesis.

Brooks Cole, Chairman and CEO of HoloCosmos and HoloGenesis.
“This is hot stuff… Susan and Tim Bratton are always three steps ahead of online marketing trends, and this infectious media marketing widget is a perfect example of how media companies can escape the tyranny of pages and portals to move media marketing into social networks and the blogosphere.”

All shows from Personal Life Media may be accessed at http://personallifemedia.com or in iTunes. Click Here.

About HoloCosmos/HoloGenesis
HoloCosmos is a leading online design and development firm building innovative social media brand experiences for clients as diverse as GE, HP, Time Warner, Jerry Brown, Carlos Santana, ACLU.TV and Personal Life Media. HoloGenesis is an early-stage technology startup pioneering visual search and discovery technology for social networks, entertainment, sustainability, healthcare and finance. HoloGenesis develops highly visual online marketing and search widgets, web and wireless applications to create competitive differentiation for brand marketers.

About Personal Life Media
Personal Life Mediais a multimedia lifestyle brand providing entertaining and authentic personal content to socially conscious adults, and is the first podcast and blog advertising network for advertisers to reach the “cultural creatives” market segment. Expert hosts deliver motivational programs, talk shows, reality-audio, interviews, advanced techniques and guided exercises in blogs, web audio, video and podcasting formats.

The network offers 25 free weekly audio and video programs, podcasts and companion blogs about self-empowerment, happiness, relationships, sensuality, life purpose, wealth creation, healthy aging and longevity. Additional areas of interest include the men’s movement, life coaching, ecology, creativity, weight-loss, beauty innovation and cosmetic surgery, retirement, conscious business, ethical sales, spirituality, personal and global transformation.

Access the shows for free from a browser or subscribe via RSS or iTunes and listen on an iPod or MP3 player. Personal Life Media is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California.

Tune In to Your Personal Life

Contacts
Media Contact:
Cindy Cooper
Cooper PR, For Personal Life Media
Cindy at personal life media dot com
(408) 806-4683 mobile

Corporate Contact:
Susan Bratton, CEO
Susan at personal life media dot com
(650) 948-0500

# # #
Personal Life Media is a trademark of Personal Life Media Inc. Tune In to Your Personal Life is a service mark of Personal Life Media, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective holders and are hereby acknowledged.

Free Widget Lets Podcaster’s Fans Syndicate Their Shows Via Social Media

LOS ALTOS, CA – August 14, 2008 – Personal Life Media™, Inc. a publisher of lifestyle podcasts and blogs for people on the leading edge of culture, made available today a patent-pending audio player widget that distributes multiple podcast RSS feeds. Web widgets are the small modules of content or advertising that a Web user can add to a social network profile, blog or personal start page.

The player is free and can be customized by color and size to match any web page or blog as well as to propagate shows in Facebook, MySpace and twenty other sites such as iGoogle and Wordpress using Gigya’s Wildfire widget distribution technology. Users can visually fly back and forth between album art for each show in the widget by controlling “show flow” with a mouse. Most importantly, the player can be branded with a corporate logo for an integrated look and feel.

Podcasters who produce more than a single show now have a way of presenting up to five of their related shows in a single widget on their site, blog or social services. As each new episode debuts, it automatically gets pushed to the podcaster’s “widget,” wherever it has been syndicated by fans. The podcaster’s fans can “get” the player and put it on their site, blog or social site, carrying the podcaster’s logo and sponsored audio ads along with the content.

The widget creator at http://personallifemedia.com/widget is free for any company, podcaster or content fan.

“Pimp” Your Widget
Three simple steps customize the PLM player:

1. Register and add up to five RSS feeds for audio podcasts.
2. Customize the player’s color and background, pick a size and add a logo.
3. Click “Get” and insert it directly on a blog, website and more than 20 social media services.

Wild For Widgets
At launch, two thought-leaders in the podosphere are showcasing the free podcast widget. Chris MacDonald, founder of music discovery publisher IndieFeed and C.C. Chapman, multi-show podcaster and and founder of social media strategy firm, Advanced Guard. This widget is free for any podcast publisher to use to promote multiple shows to fans.

Quotes
Susan Bratton, CEO and co-founder, Personal Life Media, Inc. and Vice Chairman, Association for Downloadable Media
“We are dedicated to the podcasting industry and want to create tools that help not just Personal Life Media, but enable all podcasters to increase their reach and generate new ways to monetize the amazing range of content produced by our community.”

Chris MacDonald, Founder, IndieFeed
“I chose the Personal Life Media solution for two reasons. First, it impressively displays multiple feeds of episodic audio.” “Secondly, because it provides the easiest and most engaging consumer experience with the widest possible sharing reach.”

C.C. Chapman, Founder, Advanced Guard
“I love that Personal Life Media is making it simple for anyone with multiple shows to pool them together into a widget that can then be placed on any blog or social networking site.” “Not only can anyone make their own, but by allowing simple adjustments such as color and the adding of a custom logo, it truly makes it unique to every media producer.”

All shows from Personal Life Media may be accessed at http://personallifemedia.com or in iTunes.

About Personal Life Media
Personal Life Media is a multimedia lifestyle brand providing entertaining and authentic personal content to socially conscious adults, and is the first podcast and blog advertising network for advertisers to reach the “cultural creatives” market segment. Expert hosts deliver motivational programs, talk shows, reality-audio, interviews, advanced techniques and guided exercises in blogs, web audio, video and podcasting formats.

The network offers 25 free weekly audio and video programs, podcasts and companion blogs about self-empowerment, happiness, relationships, sensuality, life purpose, wealth creation, healthy aging and longevity. Additional areas of interest include the men’s movement, life coaching, ecology, creativity, weight-loss, beauty innovation and cosmetic surgery, retirement, conscious business, ethical sales, spirituality, personal and global transformation.

Access the shows for free from a browser or subscribe via RSS or iTunes and listen on an iPod or MP3 player. Personal Life Media is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California.

Tune In to Your Personal Life

Media Contact:
Cindy Cooper
Cooper PR, For Personal Life Media
Cindy at personal life media dot com
(408) 806-4683 mobile

Corporate Contact:
Susan Bratton, CEO
Susan at personal life media dot com
(650) 948-0500
# # #
Personal Life Media is a trademark of Personal Life Media Inc. Tune In to Your Personal Life is a service mark of Personal Life Media, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective holders and are hereby acknowledged.

How To Effectively Pitch Your Show to a Sponsor: Step-by-Step Prospecting, Intro Call, Deal Structure, Follow Up and Closing the Sale
Track 3: The Business of New Media
Instructor: Susan Bratton of Personal Life Media
Room: N246 Thursday, August 14th 11:45-12:45 am

Description: You want to sell advertising and sponsorships into your content, but it’s not your area of expertise. Susan artfully covers everything you need to know to successfully pitch your content to an agency or marketer.

Susan’s candor and insight combined with running an interactive session make this a must-attend event. Learn how to find and engage prospects with a professionally developed pitch.

Understand how agencies work with clients and exactly whom you should pitch. Walk through a mock introduction call so you’ll know just what to say. Understand the client’s strategy by asking the right revealing questions so you can craft a proposal that gets to “yes!” Review various forms of advertising and how to combine online and audio/video ads to create a robust sponsorship program that performs for your advertiser and shows ROI, even if your audience numbers are small.

Learn to create value beyond CPM to maximize revenue. Ad units, standard rates and advertising buzzwords will be explained. Susan explains insertion orders, media kits, collecting and presenting demographic profiles, RFP’s, proposal generation and invoicing.

Most importantly, you’ll learn how to be pleasingly persistent, handle rejection and keep motivated. You will leave feeling informed, organized and confident about presenting your show to sponsors.

This week, my DishyMix guest blogger is Joseph Carrabis, CRO and Founder of NextStage Evolution. Joseph is a Senior Research Fellow and Advisory Board Member of the Society for New Communications Research and Director, Predictive Analytics and Senior Fellow at the Center for Semantic Excellence as well as a member of Scientists Without Borders.

This is part 2 of a 3 part series of responses to a question from Ted Zahn, Creative Director at Real Branding about the quality of our relationships in the social media space.

Ted Zahn, Creative Director, Real Branding

Hello again,
This is part 2 of my response to Ted Zahn’s question. Part 1 dealt with whether or not social networks will truly enhance the overall quality of our personal relationships. Here we continue with “will social networks enhance just the quantity of our personal relationships rather than the quality of them?”
Excellent question, this. NextStage presented some research findings on just this subject recently. The real question (to me) builds on something I wrote in part 1; how much effort does someone want to put into a given social network? It can be summed up by someone’s response during our research, “I don’t have time to be on five or six social networks.” This response was specific to networks like LinkedIn, FaceBook, et cetera. Although anecdotal, it was exemplary of the major themes we were studying.
Quick response first: People will take part in as many social networks as benefit them. They will more actively take part in social networks that more directly benefit them. Preparing my response I went back through NextStage’s research and then contacted about twenty people just to verify the emerging pattern. This leads to the next paragraph.
Perhaps a more useful response: The average human being will only be able to actively participate in a maximum of nine (9) social networks at a given time. This doesn’t mean they’ll only be a member of a maximum of nine networks (they could be a member of several hundred, they’ll only be active on at most nine in any given time period) nor does it mean they’ll participate in nine in any given time period (they’ll max at nine. Most times they’ll only be active participants on 2-3 at a whack). Thus if you’re a marketer wanting to know where to place advertising dollars, go for volume unless you have extremely high confidence in a networks demographics.
The limits mentioned above have to do with aspects of neurophysiology, specifically our brains’ I/O system. Once you get past neurophysiology you start dealing with things like situational awareness, attention-distraction gradients, engagement, …

<ASIDE>For the record, I define engagement the good old fashioned, neuro- and psycho-cognitive way, “Engagement is the demonstration of Attention via psychomotor activity that serves to focus an individual’s Attention.” None of this “if there’s this many clicks in this amount of time on this many pages during…” stuff.
Then again, I’ve seen lots of evidence that people do things based on what and how they’re thinking and little evidence that people think about things based on what they’re doing and how they do them, hence equating a mental state to an activity is the reverse of what’s true in my view.
</ASIDE>

Now the socio- and neuro-economist kicks in and asks, “What do you mean by benefit, exactly?”

How people benefit from social networks touches lots of areas of research. Let me start with the question “How does someone chose to self-identify?” John Spalding wrote “What we love to do we find time to do.” and this is demonstrated via self-identification.

For example, I love music so I block off some time every day to play guitar, piano, whatever strikes my mood and interest at the time. I also love bike-riding with Susan (wife, partner, WiseWoman of the North, etc) so we block off time for that every week. I wouldn’t reference myself as a musician or biker and here is one of the interesting things about self-identification, humans are constantly projecting themselves into their environment so that we can be recognized (identified) in ways that reinforce our self-concept. Thus, when people call me a musician (I’m not) I’m flattered, my ego swells, my pride rises a notch or two. When people say “I always see you out riding with Susan” ditto.

The fact that I non-cognitively project those aspects of myself into the world is what demonstrates the depth that those self-concepts exist in me.

So let me put it out there to the readers; what do you find time to do? Then, whether you chose to accept it as a definition or not, it’s what you “love”. More to the point, it’s how you want others to identify you, to recognize that you are not Joseph and vice versa.

Now let’s apply this more directly to self-identification and social networks.

Humans continually do things, say things, etc., to demonstrate who and what they believe they are. I write “believe” and not “think” intentionally. Belief comes from deeper parts of our self-concept than thought because we tend to have less of ourselves invested in what we “think” and more of ourselves invested in what we “believe”. I write in Reading Virtual Minds that there are three basic levels of self-concept – Personality, Identity and Core – and most people aren’t aware of them (probably a good thing for most people).

At various points in a person’s life they may need to identify themselves as an alumnus from a specific institution. A way they might do that is by taking part in the alumni social network affiliated with that institution. Or perhaps they wish to gain recognition as a kite-flyer so they take part in kite-flying social networks (for the record, I don’t take part in such networks).

Or do I? Now we get directly into how one defines a “social network”. The Pictou County Flyers is, indeed, a social network even if the members don’t recognize it as such. They periodically gather to perform activities that are all designed to do one thing and one thing only – reinforce their belief that within that social network they are safe and accepted.

You didn’t think I was going to write “fly kites”, did you?

The level of safety and acceptance one feels within a network is directly proportional to the number and quality of connections they have within that network.

Again, note “number and quality”. We’re not talking about the number of people they know within that network, we’re talking about the ways that people connect, their reasons for connecting and the strength of those connections.

For example, right now (I’m guessing) most readers only know one person in the Pictou County Flyers (me). Your connection to the ‘Flyers isn’t very strong. Let’s say I take you out flying some day and you fly the SkyTiger, the Q2002 and (god forbid) the Ekko. Let’s count your knowing me and our flying these three kites as a total of four connections.

Connections aren’t enough. It’s the quality of those connections that matters where safety and acceptance are concerned.

Let’s say we had a great time flying. We spent most of the day laughing ourselves silly. I was uniformly encouraging and made fun of myself when I made mistakes. We also had periods where we opened up to each other and transmitted quality personal information. We then went to a pub and had some beers and sandwiches, got to know each other a little more and finally I mentioned the Family Kite Night at Nelson Memorial Park in Tatamagouche (Nova Scotia, folks), inviting you to come along.

You may only have four connections to me but those connections are very strong. You feel quite safe and accepted by me. Safe and accepted enough to meet me and some of the ‘Flyers in Tatamagouche.

When we meet in Tatamagouche I tell the other ‘Flyers how well you handled the kites. They accept you because I accept you. People who prefer the SkyTiger, Q2002 and Ekko make their way over to you to talk, others who prefer other kites less so.

Kite flying is the vector. What is transmitted is social acceptance and safety, sometimes referred to as credibility and most often recognized by neuro- and socio-economists as social value, i.e., the benefit we mentioned o’ so long ago.

You’ll participate in kite flying activities because you benefit from doing so, specifically your value increases within that social network each time you participate.

Or you can be like me and just get a rush out of it.

So will social networks enhance the quantity of our personal relationships? Tell me how “personal” personal is, what benefit is derived from the relationship and I’ll answer yes or no. How many people are in your Skype contact list? How many do you interact with daily and for how long? How many people are linked to you? Ditto the ‘interact’ question.
Next up, is there a “digital effect” that is shifting the nature of our relationships to less personal, one-way broadcasts (email, status updates, photo galleries, “Where I’ve Traveled” widgets) at the expense of “genuine” communication. Is this just an inevitable trend of the digital age? Or are social networks actually a part of the solution? I’ll post something on my blog for people who want to know a little bit more of the science behind this kind of stuff.

Joseph Carrabis, Founder, NextStage Evolution on “Why People Do What They Do.”

Meet Joseph Carrabis, Chief Research Officer, author, inventor, musician, cultural linguist and genius. Susan talks to Joseph about being a cultural linguist, gender specific marketing discoveries, cultural anthropology and how humans, as social animals, are interacting with social networking.

Hear Joseph describe the differences between neurolinguistic modeling, psychodynamic modeling and psychosocial modeling and how our brains are still working with 10 million years of evolutionary history. Get details on gender differences in the ways women create networks to establish power and authority and how men establish power and authority to create networks.