Starting today, online readers of L’Observateur are being asked to take a short survey to access full versions of stories. Wick Communications and L’Observateur
are partnering with Google to implement a survey component on its sites.
Google works with companies looking for market research, and news sites are attractive survey points because of various groups who read online news. Individually,
the newspaper receives fractions a small
percentage for each
survey, but the total impact helps defray hosting and staffing costs for the newspapers’ websites. According
to L’Observateur General Manager and Managing Editor David Vitrano, at no time
during taking this survey does Google or the marketing research firms capture any reader’s personal information.
The surveys will generally be just one, very general question, although some readers may be asked to answer longer surveys.
The surveys are a way for L’Observateur to keep its online content free.