Thank you to the nearly 1,100 participants who participated in OSU Today Readership Survey in April. Through the comments we gathered, we will be making some improvements to our digest and website to reflect some of these suggestions, some of which you might already be noticing. But first, we wanted to share some of the information we gathered from those who participated.
Affiliation:
Staff 20%
Professional Faculty 37%
Academic Faculty 17%
Student 11%
Community member 15%
Age:
18-25 8%
26-40 21%
41-65 54%
Over 65 16%
How long have you been reading OSU Today?
Less than a year 10%
1-5 years 31%
More than 5 years 59%
Which sections of the digest do you read most frequently?
Campus news 68%
OSU in the News Media 65%
This Week’s Highlights 60%
Do you also visit the OSU Today website?
No 43%
Rarely 35%
Occasionally 19%
Frequently 3%
Most popular website sections
Campus news 66%
OSU in the News headlines 59%
Photo of the day 51 %
News releases 43%
Subscribers who mentioned the changes to OSU Today, which took effect in September, were evenly split between enjoying the changes to the digest frequency and the addition of the website (“I love the revamp of OSU Today and the website over the past year! I think it feels a lot more like an internal local newspaper for all things OSU which, in my opinion, plays a more effective role in community building. Good work and thank you!”), and those who missed the old daily email (“I really don't like the new format! The website is difficult to navigate and I really liked the daily emails and list of upcoming events. I looked forward to the photo of the day, and now I never see it.”)
There was an almost universal demand to return the Photo of the Day to the digest, which we promptly did. There was also a request to return to separating the Events and Take Note sections as we did previously, so we returned to that format.
We were excited to see comments from students, who told us how OSU Today connects them to the university. “I came to OSU first as a non-traditional transfer student and felt absolutely disconnected from campus news and events, until a staff member I worked with on campus told me about the newsletter and forwarded it so I could subscribe. It is a really neat resource!”
We also recognized that OSU Today’s primary focus on employees and internal news does not mean it fills the role of an external newspaper, which frustrates some readers. “I would like to see more about what students are doing & ongoing protests and movement gatherings.”
We also recognize that some people are requesting content that already exists, like the clickable full calendar on the OSU Today website. “I would love to see a more calendar-like section of activities where you can click on a link for more information.” Here’s a video tour on the website that includes how to use the calendar and its filters.
And one thing most of us can probably agree on is “More cute pets.”
More in-depth changes we’re working on include posting events farther out so readers get more advance notice, rearranging the sections on our website based on what people are most interested in reading and focusing on topics suggested by readers, including more coverage of research, the university’s response to ongoing federal cuts and policy changes, opportunities to give back/get involved and student stories. We will keep these requests in mind as we pursue stories in the future.
OSU Today is a staff of two within University Relations and Marketing, and we are grateful to those who have participated in the survey to help improve what we do and how we serve the OSU community. In the coming months we’ll continue to make improvements to content, web design and outreach to keep bringing you the best of OSU.
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