As a magazine publisher, you are always seeking new stories that interest your readers.  There is an excitement that captures the scoop or the analysis of something special to your niche readership.

But there is a problem.  Even at your best, you realize that you are only covering a small percentage of the whole news associated with your niche.

Major cable news networks have already launched their own “you report” type of video reporting by their viewers.  Citizens are now bringing the front edge of news to the news media’s attention.  A new community funded reporting site is also launching (http://spot.us - launching this week according to Publishing 2.0) that will foster more of a journalistic approach to these hidden stories.

As a publisher, this should make you think more about how you involve your readership in the news and media process.  Social media for magazine publishers presents an opportunity to handle brand extension in a way the newspaper industry failed.

You are in the business of publishing media around the concept of a magazine.  The print magazine is only the periodic element citing the latest news in a packaged and polished presentation.  There is much more to your brand than just the print magazine.  Please don’t picture your business, your industry, or your own publication as being in the business of printing a magazine.

Scott Karp makes this great point with an emphasis on the newspaper business in his post on monetizing the internet.  [Well Done Again Scott!]

The magazine publishing business stands right behind the daily newsprint media in terms of volitility of digital change.  We let newspaper publishers take a bullet so that we might learn how to get our business model straight before it’s our turn to shine.