Your Opinion Counts, Really! - survey on periodical All Hands content and design - Brief Article

All Hands, March, 2001 by Hal Pittman

Okay. ... Let's suppose, just for an instant, that you're in charge of All Hands magazine. You get to make the decisions about what we cover, when we cover it and how the story is written and photographed. You get to pick the regular columns, you provide the editorial feedback, and you even get to pick the cover -- a valuable piece of magazine real estate that draws the reader's attention immediately to a particular issue.

There's good news and bad news in this scenario. The good news is that you do get a huge say in how All Hands, the flagship publication of the U.S. Navy, is published. The magazine belongs to Sailors, and as its readers, you are vested in the process; you have every right to tell us what you like and dislike, and we'll try to make adjustments to give you what you want. The bad news is, if you are just learning that your input counts, then you must have missed our All Hands Reader's Survey contained in the October "Any Day in the Navy" issue.

We solicited the opinions of Sailors around the fleet, and we asked you to rate different sections of the magazine. And while this doesn't represent a scientific sampling, it does give us a snap shot of what Sailors expect.

We received nearly 400 responses -- a relatively small number, but a fair cross section of our readership. Sailors could check more than one column as their favorite or least liked, and in many instances they did just that, so percentages don't add up to 100.

News from "Around the Fleet" was the most popular section (70 percent of readers said they liked it the most). Stories about travel (64 percent) and MGPON's column "Speaking With Sailors" (47 percent) ranked high. Professional development, Sailor profiles and education were also very popular topics (38 percent, 36 percent and 34 percent, respectively).

"Cyber Sailor" was not particularly popular (27 percent of respondents said they liked it the least); you'll note that Cyber Sailor has been discontinued.

A huge surprise was that 26 percent of those who took the survey liked sports and fitness stories the least; additionally 20 percent of readers said they disliked letters to the editor.

More than 95 percent of all respondents rated All Hands' design excellent, very good or good. Nearly 98 percent of respondents rated All Hands' photography excellent, very good or good, with 55 percent of respondents rating it excellent.

Nearly 65 percent of respondents hadn't accessed the All Hands web site -- and that shows us we need to work harder on getting the word out about our site. Oh by the way it's www.mediacen.navy.mil

By the way, I was just kidding about picking the cover.... That's the photo editor's job.

Our editorial staff places great value on feedback, as it provides us with necessary rudder direction. If we are not giving our audience content that is useful, then publishing and journalism awards amount to nothing. Our pledge, quite simply, is to provide you with an informative and entertaining periodical that brings you closer to the fleet It's up to you to let us know whether we achieve that or not. You don't have to wait until the next reader's survey!