As long time readers know, each year we do a big annual survey of our readers. It takes about ten minutes to fill out. It’s really basic questions. And it is a huge help to our whole organization, because it goes right to our bottom line, how we pay staff and all the expenses that keep this small independent publication going. We’re going to be running the survey later this week. So when you see my post announcing it, please take a few moments to fill it out. We really appreciate it.
After the jump, more information about why it’s important and how we protect your privacy.
First, why do we do this?
Simple. While we ask some questions tied to editorial directions for the site or new parts of the site we might launch, the survey is fundamentally meant to assist our direct advertising program. Advertisers want to know who our readers are – basic demographic information, education levels, opinions on key issues, a basic sense of what kind of people read TPM.
By taking a few minutes to fill out the survey, you can help us sell more ads and show better ads. By ‘better ads’, I mean something very specific. We sell direct advertising and also run ‘network ads’. In the latter case, it’s really the wild west and it’s hard to monitor just what kind of ads are running. So that’s where we sometimes see ads that blare sound or are just disruptive or jarring in various ways. So in addition to getting us more money to pay salaries and bring you the news, this helps us run ads that are less disruptive to your viewing experience.
So 5 or 10 minutes to really help us fund the work we do.
Second, privacy.
Let me be crystal clear on this. We do not and will not ever sell, share or even keep information about individual people. The system we use to run this survey does not even make that possible. This is all aggregate data.
So x% of readers answer this question this way, y% answer that way, etc. Not only will we not share information about you with anyone, we’re not even collecting it ourselves. So you and your answers remain totally anonymous.
When you see the announcement posting the survey later this week, please take a moment to fill it out. It is hugely important for us. And we really appreciate it.
