More Media By More People in More Places

Dan Pacheco, founder of Printcasting, says that the attendees of "Community Health and the Blogosphere "haven't just drunk the social media Kool-Aid, they are the Kool-Aid." And that's okay, because it's a much older phenomenon than you might expect.

He points to the Maslow hierarchy of needs, which stipulates that once we have some basic physiological and physical requirements met, we seek social and creative fulfillment. At the end of the day, social media is not a technological or media innovation; it's a psychological one.

Pacheco has been ahead of the curve in terms of embracing new forms of connecting people. He was involved in a project called Bakotopia.com, one of the first citizen journalism projects in the country. Printcasting allows anyone to create a printed magazine from the content of their blogs. Using simple layouts and drag-and-drop functionality, individuals can create printed magazines and PDFs with low overhead and potentially sell advertisements to make a profit.

With the diversity and strength of so many online products and social networking sites, building a brand is not about building just a website anymore. "Destination sites are dead, I think," Pacheco says. "The brand is much more important than the URL."

This approach to publishing, by putting content on networks and in print, also helps reach audiences who would not normally come to you. If you build a Facebook fan page, for example, people can easily share your content and get it beyond your traditional audiences. If you print content in magazines, you can begin to bridge digital divides. "Try not to think like mainstream media," Pancheco said.

Mark Horvath, creator of Invisible People, added, "Every network matters."

"Which is to say people matter," said Pachecho.

You can learn more about Pacheco and his work on his blog and via Twitter @Pachecod.