Good Morning and Happy Weekend, Burlington!

Before we get started, I want to announce an exciting partnership. During the month of November, 10% from each annual subscription purchased for Burlington Buzz will go toward People Helping People. People Helping People is our local food pantry, serving hundreds of families each week and making sure our most vulnerable residents are taken care of with food and basic necessities.

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to a paid subscription, what better time? You can support our local news business while also contributing to this wonderful local nonprofit. Technically, this promotion starts on Tuesday, November 1, but I won’t be stingy. If you upgrade anytime between now and November 30, your subscription counts! Learn more about the service the Buzz provides to our community and why a paid subscription is so appreciated at our new about page.

Today in Burlington

Don’t forget the many things that are going on today in Burlington:

• Last day to register to vote
• 9:00-12:00 – Shredding Day at Town Hall
• 9:00-11:00 – Pumpkin Party at the Sculpture Park
• 11:00 AM-5:00 PM – Early In-Person Voting – at Town Hall
• 5:30 PM – Marching Band Sendoff at Varsity Field (Open rehearsal 3:15-5:30

Facebook Communities

Facebook did this thing recently where they added a community feature to pages like the Buzz. I guess it didn’t work out the way they expected, and they announced randomly this week that they’d be reverting back to the old ways. If you’re one of the hundreds of people who got a weird message yesterday about your information being available for download, just know that this won’t affect you or the Buzz’s page. The only thing that will happen is that the community, group-style posts will disappear. There weren’t that many of them, anyway. You can still post items on the main feed and, if they’re aligned with the Buzz’s values and add value to the community, I’ll approve them.

The Results Are In

A week ago, I sent you a survey to help gauge where the Buzz community is today and plan where we can go in the new year. Today I wanted to share some preliminary data and interpretations with you.

Demographics

• Nearly all subscribers self-identified as White/Caucasian. This isn’t representative of our town demographics, and it matters to me that the Buzz’s readership extends to all our residents. So I will be thinking on ways to make sure folks from all different backgrounds know about the Buzz and have access to it.
• We have a really wide range of ages! Primarily we serve folks 35-75, though.

Value

• Two-thirds of paid subscribers said the value of the Buzz is “just right;” one-third believe the value is greater than the $5/month, $50/year they’re paying.
• Of greatest value to respondents are local government information and candidate information. Which reminds me, I need to get back to some government profiles and maybe interview some folks from town government for the podcast.
• About 1/3 of free subscribers who responded say they plan to upgrade to a paid subscription at some point. There are plenty of reasons to do that now, and I’ll be adding new features in the new year that will further increase the value of a paid subscription. But we will never permanently paywall information. The Buzz’s model is that the subscribers who can and wish to pay, do, so those who can’t are still able to access the information.

Satisfaction

• Ninety-nine percent of respondents said they are either somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with the Buzz overall. This number means a lot to me. I work hard, volunteering my time for hours each day to provide this service for our town, and I am so glad it has proven useful to you. The Buzz has only had a handful (1% or so) of unsubscribes since beginning, and I think that statistic bears out the value this publication has brought to the community.

I’ll be back with some more thoughts for the future direction of the Buzz as the new year approaches, but for now please know how grateful I am for you and your support.

Oh—and a few of you said you wish residents had more input on coverage. Story ideas and cover photos are always welcome by email.

Thanks for being awesome and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Nicci