Final report on digital skills, training, and strategies research released

Survey of 273 B2B editors shows corporate digital training and publisher leadership lacking even as titles become cross-platform brands.

The final, complete report of the ASBPE-Medill Survey on Digital Skills and Strategies is now available.

Preliminary results were released February 25.

The final report contains 20 tables of data, more than 200 open-ended comments from respondents related to several survey questions, and a discussion of methodology.

The survey of 273 B2B editors by the American Society of Business Publication Editors, and the Medill School and Media Management Center at Northwestern University, found that B2B editors have been left largely to their own devices to gain the skills necessary to do their jobs across platforms.

Four out of five editors who answered the survey participated in one day or less of corporate-sponsored digital training during 2009. The median amount was less than a half-day, and 36% said they had no corporate digital training whatsoever.

Research data in the report covers the following questions:

  • What percentage of your work is currently devoted to digital?
  • What percentage of your work should be digital to benefit your organization the most?
  • In general, is your individual digital skill level running behind, equal to, or ahead of your brand’s transition to digital?
  • How adequate is the digital skills training provided by your company?
  • How adequate is your digital skill training relative to your brand’s transition to digital?
  • In the last 12 months, approximately how much digital skills training have you received from your company?
  • At your title/brand, is focus on digital issues affecting the quality of your print editorial content positively or negatively?
  • If you were in charge of planning for the near future (next 12 months) of your organization, how necessary are the following 16 strategies?
  • For 16 digital activities, how often do you do each as part of your job?
  • For 16 digital activities, what is your digital skill level for each?
  • For 16 digital activities, how important are each to you doing your job successfully in the next 12 months?
  • How much time do you spend engaging in social media as a part of your job?
  • In your experience, is time spent engaging in social media helpful or a hindrance to producing quality print or digital content?
  • How is amount of time spent on social media associated with social media being helpful or a hindrance?
  • For 12 parameters, rate the knowledge or skill level of the person who is your publisher (to whom you report).

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