Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
July, 2009
Kevin Bondelli
Chair
Communications and Outreach
About the Survey
The survey discussed in this report was created on June 23, 2009 to get feedback from the Young
Democrats of America membership on the technology and communications component of the
organization. The survey ran from June 23 to July 25, 2009 with a total of 100 completed surveys
using the Google Docs Form/Spreadsheet tool.
The survey was purely a feedback tool and does not represent a statistically valid sample.
Respondents self-selected to opt-in to the survey, and the form was distributed using Facebook
and Twitter primarily through my own online network. This is probably why certain states are
over-represented while others are not represented at all and why the percentage of respondents
actively using Facebook and Twitter is so high. The results from the rating scale questions about
YDA's use of certain communication methods were slightly skewed by the inability to decline to
answer or state no opinion in case the respondent did not use a certain method and was
unfamiliar with YDA's communication with it. This was indicated in the comments of a number of
respondents.
This report begins by presenting the results of each of the survey questions and concludes with
suggestions and ideas submitted by the respondents. The survey itself appears at the end of the
report.
It is important to note that all but five of the survey responses were completed between June 23
and June 30, 2009, therefore 95% of the ratings of the YDA usage of certain communications
methods were based on usage prior to those dates.
Location and Birth Year
Representation by birth year was more equally distributed than by region. The demographic I
previously assumed would not be very well represented, those under 18, was surprisingly
represented by 8 respondents.
Usage of Online Services
The above graph is an overlay of the online accounts respondents have and use regularly. As
mentioned previously, the distribution of the survey link over Facebook and Twitter likely inflates
the adoption/usage numbers for those services. Conversely, although MySpace is certainly on the
decline, it is probably not as dramatic generally as it is in the above results.
Even with the likely usage inflation for Facebook, it is clear that it is the online service of choice
for Young Democrats.
Ning (ning.com), a service that allows you to create your own branded social networks, appears
to have lost most of the initial traction it gained a few years ago.
Some services were included in the survey to see how many 'early adopters' responded. These
services are Seesmic, a micro-videoblogging site, and FriendFeed, a lifestream aggregator. Only a
handful of respondents had accounts on these services that are still primarily used by the tech
community.
While a majority of respondents have an account on LinkedIn, it is not an active part of their
social media routine. At this point the service does not seem to be a good prospect for online
activism with Millennials.
The number of active users of YouTube is lower than expected, however the reach of YouTube
videos extends beyond account holders since accounts are not required to view videos and many
people watch videos embedded in websites, blogs, and Facebook.
Only a small minority of respondents actively used social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Reddit,
and Del.icio.us. Outside of blogger communities most Young Democrats seem to share most links
over Facebook instead.
Blogging
Respondents were asked whether they read political blogs, contributed to a political blog, and if
they subscribed to blogs using an RSS feed reader.
81% of respondents claimed to read political blogs and 52% maintain or contribute to a blog
themselves. While the percentage of blog readers seems reasonable, the percentage of blog
content creators is probably artificially high due to self-selection and the networks the survey
was distributed through.
The 52% RSS user rate also seems to be inflated, though the technology has been rapidly gaining
adoption because of its ease of use and the ability to save time.
Respondents were also asked to name their favorite political blog. Responses were extremely
varied. Below are blogs that received multiple mentions.
Huffington Post, Politics1, Future Majority, Daily Kos, KevinBondelli.com, Politico, Swing State
Project, Everyday Citizen, Kansas Jackass, Talking Points Memo, Blue in Red Zion, Calitics, MyDD,
Blog for Democracy, Blue Mass Group
Smart Phone Usage
68% of survey respondents use a 'smart' phone, while
30% do not and 2% declined to answer. Among smart
phone users BlackBerry is the most popular, with the
iPhone in a very close second. Other smart phones
(Windows Mobile, Palm, Android, Other) made up
only 17% usage combined.
While these numbers are likely artificially high, communications methods utilizing mobile
internet and BlackBerry/iPhone applications will become increasingly relevant in the future.
Young Democrats Communications
Facebook and Email are the preferred sources of information about the Young Democrats for
survey respondents. The leading 'Other' response was word of mouth.
Respondents were asked to rate four channels of YDA communications: Facebook, Twitter, Email,
and the yda.org website.
The inability of respondents to decline to answer forced them to rate a communications method
even if they do not use that method. A few respondents indicated this in their comments, with 1
(Very Poor) and 3 (Average) being the most common responses in those situations. This mostly
affected the ratings of the Twitter account.
Poor Average Good
Website: 36% 42% 22%
Facebook: 18% 39% 43%
Twitter: 30% 38% 32%
Email: 21% 31% 48%
Respondents are most satisfied with YDA's email communications, followed closely by Facebook.
Respondents are most dissatisfied with the yda.org website. The ratings of the Twitter account
are spread out evenly, though the ratings are the least accurate.
There is room for improvement in all four of the communications methods, with the website
requiring the most effort.
Comments and Suggestions
Respondents were able to submit text answers to three questions:
Here is a sample of the suggestions and comments to each of these questions. Some spelling
correction and punctuation has been added to the original comments.
Rating questions should not be required for completion or should allow for an N/A response.
The most valuable information from the survey responses came from the write-in comments
from the respondents. Future surveys should continue this practice.
Appendix: Survey Form Questions
Please complete the following survey to help improve YDA's communications. Please answer
honestly.
* Required
State/Territory*
[Dropdown selection: state/territory abbreviations]
Year of Birth*
[Dropdown selection: 1973-1996]
Which of the following online services do you use regularly (Once a week or more)? *
[Check all that apply: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Windows Live, Ning, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, Google,
Flickr, YouTube, Seesmic, Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us]
Where do you primary find out about information for the Young Democrats? *
[Radio button: Facebook, Email, YDA.org, Twitter, Other (Text input)]
On a scale from 1 to 5, how would you rate the usefulness of the YDA website? *
[Radio button scale: 1 (Not at all useful) – 5 (Extremely useful)]
On a scale from 1 to 5, how would you rate the quality of content on the YDA Facebook Page? *
[Radio button scale: 1 (Very Poor) – 5 (Very Good)]
On a scale from 1 to 5, how would you rate the quality of YDA's tweets on Twitter (@youngdems)? *
[Radio button scale: 1 (Very Poor) – 5 (Very Good)]
On a scale from 1 to 5, how would you rate the quality of the emails you receive from YDA? *
[Radio button scale: 1 (Very Poor) – 5 (Very Good)]