The Results of The NiLP Network Reader Survey
The NiLP Network on Latino Issues (January 4, 2013)
The NiLP Network on Latino Issues, a project of the National Institute for Latino Policy, has grown in size and influence in the last few years. Today, it stands as one of the most important online information services on the Latino community in the United States. The NiLP Network is a combination news aggregator, blog, research reporter and issue mobilizer, uniquely bringing together different new media elements.
In order to get a sense of whether The NiLP Network was meeting the needs of its membership, we conducted a web survey of our readers during the period December 21-31, 2012. This survey included both closed and open-ended questions and was distributed through our members' emails, and on our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages. The respondents were anonymous.
We asked about the relevance and impact of this service, favorite features, how they used the information, and other issues that would help us make improvements. The general results indicated a pretty widespread satisfaction with The NiLP Network. Here are the issues we addressed:
1. How important is The NiLP Network as a resource in the Latino community? The survey found that the respondents overwhelmingly found this service to be important (72 percent felt it was "extremely important" and 24 percent "very important"). This level of enthusiasm for this service was unexpected, but quite gratifying.
2. In open-ended questions, we asked what other online Latino news services they read and how The NiLP Network compared. Most found our service generally superior. Overall, The NiLP Network compared very favorably. The majority (57 percent) found it superior to their other information sources on Latino issues, with another 30 percent making positive comments and 8 percent feeling it is similar to other sources they consult. Only 6 percent felt that The NiLP Network needed improvement in a number of areas, but there was no consensus on what these should be.
3. We wanted to know how our readers used the information they received through The NiLP Network. By the far the largest number (92 percent) indicated to "keep up with Latino issues in general." Other uses were much less cited:
■ To keep up with Latino issues specifically to help me with my work (52 percent)
■ To connect with experts and leaders in the Latino community (41 percent)
■ To do research (34 percent)
4. Related to this, we asked which their favorite features of The NiLP Network were. The largest group, more than two-thirds (68 percent) indicated they like them all. In terms of specific features, these were the favorites they indicated:
■ Guest Commentaries by Various Authors (33 percent)
■ Commentaries by Angelo Falcón (28 percent)
■ NiLP iReports (28 percent)
■ Latino Census Network Updates (27 percent)
■ Latino Datanotes (24 percent)
5. Preceding some of our postings, our editor, Angelo Falcón, writes usually brief (and sometimes not so brief) introductory notes. We wanted to find out if our readers found these useful or, as some have commented, too "snarky" (meaning 1: crotchety, snappish. 2: sarcastic, impertinent, or irreverent in tone or manner). Most (78 percent) found these notes "very useful" compared to 22 percent who found them "not that important" or "not very useful." Less than 1 percent found them "too snarky." We will, therefore, continue to provide these notes from time to time. A typical response from the respondents was: "On the introductory notes from Angelo . . .yes, they are useful but are also sometimes too snarky. But that's fine! I find the context he provides very important and useful to have. Also, please keep NiLP coming! I really appreciate it."
6. We also asked what type of information The NiLP Network readers preferred. Political and policy issues in general were the most preferred by far. Here is how they ranked these:
■ Policy Issues in General (93 percent)
■ Political (91 percent)
■ Polling Data (61 percent)
■ Media News (52 percent)
■ Business News (46 percent)
■ Individual Profiles (45 percent)
■ Entertainment News (27 percent)
7. We also wanted to know if our readers felt the coverage of issues by The NiLP Network was balanced or not. They overwhelmingly felt that "it presents different points of view" (76 percent), compared to only 12 percent who felt it was "one sided." Another 12 percent felt they didn't know or couldn't tell. However, even among those who viewed the coverage as one-sided, most saw this as being positive. While some readers indicated they wanted to see a more liberal or progressive point of view expressed, most seem to prefer the diversity of views that we currently present. When asked their general political orientation, about half (49 percent) identified it as "progressive," followed by 23 percent as "liberal" 17 percent as "moderate," and only 3 percent as "conservative." A typical comment on this was: "I had to say you are very one sided, however, you obviously do include some issues (a few) typically aligned with the right. Overall, I love your service. Please keep up the outstanding work." Another wrote, "When I replied 'yes, one-sided,' I meant that as a compliment. You're at your best when you present a progressive point of view, unapologetically."
8. Since an important goal of The NiLP Network is to promote discussion of Latino issues, we wanted to know if our readers found the information we sent out to be provocative. Half (50 percent) found it "consistently thought provoking." compared to 48 percent who found it "sometimes thought provoking," and 2 percent who found it not very thought provoking. As one respondent wrote, "I enjoy reading the articles by various commentators for their thought-provoking themes. I view NILP as my valued 'behind-the-scenes' reporting service, since I cannot be there myself to see where we are taken advantage of or where we are making progress. Excellent job!"
9. The question of whether to charge for this currently free service always comes up, so we asked our readers whether they would consider paying a nominal fee for their The NiLP Network membership. Only 26 percent stated they definitely would, compared to 47 percent who indicated "maybe" and 28 percent who indicated "no." This result strongly suggests that we keep this service free if resources permit, relying as we have in the past on individual donations. A small number of those indicating interest in paying a fee pointed out that they would only do so if the services provide were enhanced, such as including a search archive. One person proposed the idea of soliciting ads to support this service.
10. We ended the survey with an open-ended question asking for general comments. Looking for areas of improvement, we found that 10 percent of the comments had to do with the frequency of our posts, with some feeling overloaded in this regard. We have heard this complaint before, but thought it would be an issue with a much larger group of readers. Despite this, we will be endeavoring to limit the number of emails we send out to the network.
There were other suggestions for improvement, such as the need for an enhanced website with an searchable archive, the need for more investigative pieces, better coverage of the Midwest and of Central an South American groups, and the need for more care with our spelling and grammar. These were each mentioned, however, by no more than two or three individuals, some of which acknowledged that these improvements would be dependent on additional resources that we currently do not have. Limited resources, for example, result in our deliberately limited engagement with our readership, such as not actively or widely soliciting op-eds or comments, because of our tiny staff. With greater resources in the future we would be able to develop these areas more. But, according to this survey, many of our readers would only pay a subscription fee if these enhancements were already in place, a typical dilemma for any small operation.
Three issues we were concerned about did not surface in any significant way in the survey. One is the fact that The NiLP Network and NiLP in general have chosen to try to personalize its work through highlighting the role of our quirky President and Editor, Angelo Falcón. There is the concern that this could come off as too self-promotional and indulgent, taking away from the Institute's imsge as a serious policy center. This did not come up as an issue, excerpt for only one respondent.
We were also concerned that the sometimes irreverent tone of our commentary and some postings would detract from NiLP, again, as a serious policy center. Based on this survey, this has clearly not been the case.
The third concern has to do with the fact that we gear our postings to second and third generation Latinos and provide almost all of our content in English. In fact, when we do translations, it is to translate articles from Spanish to English. We wondered whether there would be a bigger demand for Spanish-language materials, however, there was not.
Most of the general comments about The NiLP Network on Latino Issues we received were very positive. Here are some typical ones:
"It is widely read by teachers, scholars, activists, and policy people. You might want to launch a campaign to get it to students and others in the community by asking recipients to share it with friends and associates."
"This is a great source of information. I share it with friends and family through Google and Facebook. A great resource for Latinos in the USA (even for those living in PR)."
"You guys are doing great work. The importance [and influence] of what you are doing will grow daily. From my humble perspective, the 'Puerto Rican problem' will finally overflow [sooner than expected, the colonial status is just financially unsustainable], and NiLP could be an important forum for the coming 'clash of ideas.' It will inevitably impinge on all kinds of USA - Latino political, social, economic and cultural issues, and will heat up the debate as to what kind of country the USA is headed for."
"I'm a radio morning show producer and your highlights on Latino issues are very useful for our research."
"Important service. Powerful research based data for applied community work."
"I love this publication and, Angelo, keep doing a great job with it. I always look forward to reading it. I am constantly sending it to individuals I know will benefit by reading it."
"Your articles about the Census have been excellent.:
These results of this survey were most encouraging as we begin this New Year. Hopefully we can continue this positive momentum throughout the year and beyond.
Thanks to all of the NiLPsters who participated in this survey. We appreciate the time you took to help us assess our work. ¡Feliz Año Nuevo!