AAFP News Now Gets First Member 'Grade Card'

Look for Enhanced Opinion Section Coming Soon

By News Staff
4/18/2006

April marks the first anniversary for AAFP News Now online and its weekly e-mail; May will mark the first anniversary for the print ANN. How better to cap ANN's inaugural year than to share results from the first readership survey -- and to announce a future enhancement that will make ANN even more interesting for members?

Conducted a few months ago, the survey reveals the following:

Members read ANN mainly to get news about the specialty (88 percent); legislation, regulations and AAFP advocacy in Washington (64 percent); and clinical topics (62 percent). In addition, 60 percent read ANN for analysis of news and trends affecting them and their practices. "We'll continue to focus most coverage on these areas of interest, especially on news about AAFP's advocacy work, because it's so critical to the future of the specialty," says ANN editor-in-chief Paula Binder.
Eighty-four percent of members consider ANN to be very valuable or valuable to them. About 95 percent consider ANN's timeliness and its coverage of news about the specialty to be excellent or good, with most ranking these items as excellent. Coverage of legislation, regulations and AAFP advocacy in Washington also scored well, with 87 percent considering it excellent or good.
About 50 percent of members report they have considered changing something in their practices or some aspect of patient care as a result of reading ANN.
Most members rely on the weekly e-mail to access ANN, and nearly 90 percent say the e-mail includes just the right amount of detail about ANN stories accessible by hyperlink.
Those who receive the print ANN rate it highly for visual appeal and ease of reading.
No matter how they access ANN -- online, e-mail or print -- most members "skim" the publication, then read only stories of interest. "We're striving to pack ANN's headlines and lead paragraphs with as much information as possible to meet skim readers' needs," says Binder. "If there's a call to action, you won't have to dig to find it."
A strong majority of members express interest in "customizing" the weekly e-mail so it leads off with newly posted stories in content areas they specify.

"We're elated that members rated ANN so positively," says Binder, "and we hope they'll be excited about an upgrade coming soon: an enhanced, robust ANN opinion section with no-holds-barred editorials and commentary. The electronic version of the opinion section will be for members only."

The enhanced opinion section, to debut online in June, will give members behind-the-scenes details about the Academy's efforts on their behalf in Washington and in the private sector, says Binder. "So stay tuned!"

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