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 1 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. If you search on “Carrabis” on my blog you will find myriad posts from Joseph about social media and human behavior. Joseph has been entertaining questions from DishyMix listeners for months and they are fascinating. Here’s the latest:

Ted Zahn, Creative Director, Real Branding

Ted wrote “…This is pretty high-level stuff, but Joseph is a pretty high-level guy…”

Joseph says, “this is no doubt a comment about my love of kite flying. I just purchased 1,000 ft of line for my MegaPowerSled kite (for reference, the thing in back is a drogue and is used to stabilize the main kite in high winds. I’m 6’ tall and can use the drogue as a sleeping bag if I tuck in a bit). Considering I usually reserve this kite for the RI coast, I’m wondering if the Coast Guard will be coming to call as there’s a chance I’ll be in their fly space.” “Also thanks for the images of Three Chimneys. S’e tha e gle t-iongantas! (Yes, it’s awesome!)”

Now, do I believe social networks will truly enhance the overall quality of our personal relationships?
Yes, definitely. Of course, my basis for this is that social networks have existed since we descended from the trees and started walking across the pampas and that without them we wouldn’t be sitting in front of computers, me responding and readers reading…hmm…not truly sure if that’s enhancement…
Will online social networks enhance the overall quality of our personal relationships? I’ll still go with a “Yes” and I’ll caveat that by recognizing that social networks are incredibly fluid and dynamic based on the psycho-social and psycho-cognitive distance between network members and ourselves. For example, I’ve heard something along the lines of “You can pick your friends and you can’t pick your family.” What’s being defined are two social networks, one genetically much closer than the other. But which one is psychologically closer?
How do we as individuals determine the values of social ties when traditional social interaction is limited? This is something I deal with quite a bit in Reading Virtual Minds (and I swear I’ll finish writing it this year).
The strongest social networks were traditionally based on being able to make physical contact because we only allowed those we trusted highly access to our selves, our “sacks of flesh”. This comes across in modern times with how different people, social groups, cultures, etc., define “personal space.” Asian cultures have a very different concept of personal space than do western cultures, continental European cultures than Anglo cultures, Aboriginal cultures from “modern” cultures. Any readers who want advanced understanding of personal space, go spend time with well trained boxers, traditionally trained martial artists (of any culture) or people with advanced hand-to-hand combat training. The usual question of “Where are you in my social network?” is subsumed by “Are you a friend or foe?” and studying what these people conceive as personal space is fascinating.
Are we closer to those we embrace in flesh bound arms in our living and bedrooms or to those we entwine in pseudo-human tendrils in our mutually defined ‘toon space? And is the work of mutual definition that creates a ‘toon space any psycho-cognitively or psycho-socially different than the work of mutually defining the layout and color schemes of our living and bedrooms?
Technology, regardless of how rapidly it advances and increases our ability to get things done or do new things, is still going to be bound by our biology and more exactly our neurology. Our internal wiring isn’t going to change overnight. Generationally maybe and even then only if there’s enough evolutionary gain in the new wiring and a large enough population in any given generation that knowingly or otherwise breeds for that gain. Heck, if the gain is obvious enough it will breed true regardless of people’s efforts otherwise.
Will social networks enhance our personal relationships? Yes, of course. And the same rules apply online as off; we’ll co-create and take part in social networks that enhance our personal relationships to the extent that we want those personal relationships to exist. This also plays into Alex Nesbitt’s question. How do you get people to take part in social media? Make it personal. Go through what I wrote and the final suggestions and what comes out are elements from the concept of personal space – how close are you willing to let others get to you, how close are you willing to get to others? That psycho-cognitive and psycho-social distance is determined by the amount of work you’re willing to put into developing those relationships.
Will social networks enhance our personal relationships? Only to the extent you want those personal relationships that are based on a given social network to exist.
Next part, “…or perhaps just the quantity of them?”

Can’t get enough of Joseph, listen to his DishyMix interview. Click below.

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.