The Digital Future of Nichiren Shu News

Survey Results
 

We would like to thank everybody who took time to participate in the online survey. This was the first time for us to conduct such a survey and despite the problems we learned a great deal that we hope to use as we move forward towards digital publishing without losing sight of the merits of a traditional newspaper.

nichirenshunewssurvey

We had a 2% participation rate based on our print run of 3,800 with the majority being Nichiren Shu temple members using English as their primary language.The most gratifying result was learning that 94% of the participants find Nichiren Shu News useful, informative and educational. Thank you so very much.

On the subject of keeping Nichiren Shu News a free paper or charging a fee, opinions were mixed: 63% want the paper to remain free , 71% would pay for the paper with it’s current content and 55% would be willing to pay for a paper with enhanced digital format. Clearly charging a fee should be part of delivering higher quality content for digital and print.

Regarding newspaper content, most readers find the regular columns educational while 57% say the topics in general are ‘somewhat’ interesting which means we need to work harder. As for what topic content readers want to see more of, 43% want to read more about Nichiren Shu in today’s society, 37% want more education content and a much smaller 17% want more temple news.

We would like to close with a selection of anonymous quotes that help illustrate the results and show us the issues we need to think about to make Nichiren Shu News a better paper. Once again thank you for your support.

Quotes
“I would be willing to pay for an enhanced eBook format of the newsletter but it would need to have more educational content.”

“Please encourage more of the native english-speaking ministers to contribute more articles and commentary.”

“I would also like to see more information about Nichiren Shonin's disciples, not just his 6 senior or 9 senior disciples.”

“I would like to see more youth oriented articles, so I can get my children interested in reading the Nichiren Shu News.”

“Nichiren Shu News needs to cut back on vanity" articles by senior priests in Japan and focus on content that is of value to the overseas members."

“i think it could be more interesting if you say more about communities in South America.”

“I would like to see a monthly column by lay people on their experience as a practitioner of Buddhism.”

“A Spanish language version would be appreciated :)”

“More about how members get benefits from the practice, and how they use the practice in their lives.”