Communication Survey Results Report About Westwind School Division Westwind School Division is a rural public school division in south western . It has 13 public schools, 1 alternate school providing distance and home learning services, and 17 Hutterite Colony schools. The Division employs one communications officer who manages division communications, with school Principals, secretaries, teachers, coaches, and school councils in charge of communication at the schools level. Synopsis Social Media is by far the most effective tool available to communicate with all Facebook Youtube Pinterest Instagram Twitter LinkedIn demographics in our region. 100% In that context, we conducted a regional survey of 1,036 adults conducted from 75% December 2016 to January 2017. 77% 50% We found that 94% of all respondents have 56% access to the internet in their homes. 88% of 43% parents responding reported owning a 25% 31% smartphone. More than 77% of respondents 10% 7% used the most popular social media site on 0% at least a weekly basis, while only 40% of Country 95 Herald respondents used the most popular Global Lethbridge Temple City Star traditional media source. Westwind Weekly 100% Traditional media is still an important mode of communicating to people, especially 75% those who do not currently use social media. As we can see, that is only 23% of 50% the respondents to this survey. None of the 40% measured traditional mediums were used 25% 34% 31% by a majority of respondents. 18% 16% 0% What follows is a deeper examination of the current state of the social and traditional media landscape in Westwind. The Age Demographic Spread in Westwind Communities1 The communities in are abnormal. We see a very high population rate while children are living at home and going to school, between 0 and 18 years old. This drops off significantly at about age 18 and stays low until between 25 and 29. Populations in southern Alberta remain low overall, except for County which experiences a spike in ages 40 to 54. Thereafter it declines overall, with relative increases in Cardston around retirement age and entrance into independent and assisted living facilities.

Total Raymond Cardston Magrath Stirling Hill Spring Glenwood 15%

10%

5% 0 to 4years0to 9years5to 1014to years 1519to years 2024 to years 2529 to years 3034 to years 3539 to years 4044 to years 4549 to years 5054 to years 5559 to years 6064 to years 6569 to years 7074 to years 7579 to years 8084 to years 85 years and over

1 Statistics , Census 2011 data. Civic Participation Levels by Age One of key reasons for engaging in this study was to ensure that Division communications about what effective educational practices are is reaching electors trying to decide who to vote for. We understand the age demographics of our communities, we understand the media usage statistics for our age demographics and communities, Now we need to understand our voter age demographics to determine how effective our communications are and where we should be focusing our attention.

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

0.304

0.228

0.152

0.076

0 2011 Census Survey 2015 Cardston-Taber-Warner Voters

Our census shows a large number of millennial and silent generation people living in Westwind communities. Our survey respondents show a disproportionate number of Generation X respondents with nearly equal ratios of all other demographics, younger millennial excluded. Our voter statistics from the 2013 provincial elections show that the most important demographics to reach are the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers.

I feel confident that the results of the survey will help us to reach our different age demographics effectively and efficiently. Usage and demographics of Social Media Platforms

% of adult respondents who use Facebook 77% of respondents use Facebook

All Respondents 77% Almost 8-in-10 of respondents to the survey use Facebook on at least a a weekly basis. Men 64 Women respondents reported using Women 82 Facebook 18% more than male respondents. Millennials (18-34) 91 This reflects an over trend of higher social media use among all women than men Generation X (35-44) 87 found by Pew Research2. Baby Boomers (45-64) 75 Millennials were the highest users, at 91% Silent Generation (65+) 55 adoption among all respondents. The Cardston 76 particularly surprising result was that a majority of the Silent Generation Glenwood 62 respondents also used Facebook on at least Hillspring 63 a weekly basis.

Magrath 81 The majority of respondents from all communities reported using Facebook. Mountain View 75 Magrath respondents had the highest rate, Raymond 78 81%, and Glenwood and Hill Spring had the Stirling 78 lowest rates, 62% and 63% respectively.

2 Pew Research Centre, November 2016, “Social Media Update 2016”, 4 % of adult respondents who use Youtube 56% of respondents use Youtube

All Respondents 56% A majority of respondents used youtube from both genders, although men were more Men 65 likely to use Youtube on a weekly basis than Women 54 women by 11%.

Millennials (18-34) 65 Youtube is a popular medium for respondents in all age categories except the Generation X (35-44) 66 Silent Generation, of which 35% of Baby Boomers (45-64) 58 respondents still used it on a weekly basis. Silent Generation (65+) 35 Cardston, Glenwood, and Magrath had the Cardston 60 highest percentage of respondents using Youtube at about 60%, and Hill Spring and Glenwood 62 Glenwood had the lowest at about 42%. Hillspring 40

Magrath 59

Mountain View 44

Raymond 51

Stirling 56 % of adult respondents who use Pinterest 43% of respondents use Pinterest

All Respondents 43% Pinterest is the first social media portal that does not have a majority adoption rate Men 19 among respondents, and the reason for this Women 53 is revealed in the gender divide. Slightly over half of women reported using Pinterest on at Millennials (18-34) 66 least a weekly basis, while only about 1-in-5 Generation X (35-44) 55 men reported the same.

Baby Boomers (45-64) 42 There was a declining rate of adoption in Silent Generation (65+) 16 older demographics, starting at 66% for Millennials, 55% for Generation X, 42% for Cardston 41 Baby Boomers, and only 16% for the Silent Glenwood 41 Generation.

Hillspring 27 Magrath and Stirling had the highest rates of reported weekly usage at about 52%, and Magrath 50 Hill Spring had the lowest at 27%. Hill Mountain View 44 Spring’s rate is 14% below the next lowest community, Raymond at 41%. Raymond 41

Stirling 54 % of adult respondents who use Instagram 31% of respondents use

All Respondents 31% Instagram

Men 21 Instagram is the least effective, in terms of overall population. However, it still reaches a Women 35 majority of younger respondents (56%). Millennials (18-34) 56 Women were more likely to use Instagram, at Generation X (35-44) 45 35% opposed to only 21% for men.

Baby Boomers (45-64) 23 The only community with a really significant Silent Generation (65+) 12 portion of respondents reporting weekly use of Instagram was Magrath at 44%. All the Cardston 26 other communities saw 33% or lower, down Glenwood 21 to a low of 21% in Glenwood.

Hillspring 27

Magrath 44

Mountain View 28

Raymond 33

Stirling 33 Usage and demographics of Traditional Media Platforms

% of adult respondents who use Country 95 40% of respondents use Country

All Respondents 40% 95

Men 32 It is interesting that the highest overall adoption of traditional media is only 9% Women 43 higher than the fourth highest social media Millennials (18-34) 49 tool.

Generation X (35-44) 40 Women were more likely to listen to Country 95 than men were. Baby Boomers (45-64) 45

Silent Generation (65+) 28 The rate of listening was between 40% and 49% across demographics, except for the Cardston 41 Silent Generation, which only reported 28% Glenwood 38 use on a weekly basis.

Hillspring 50 only one community’s respondents had 50% weekly usage, Hill Spring. All the other Magrath 40 communities ranged between 38 and 44%. Mountain View 44

Raymond 38

Stirling 44 % of adult respondents who read the 34% of respondents read Lethbridge Herald Lethbridge Herald All Respondents 34% The Lethbridge Herald is the most read Men 39 newspaper across the school Division.

Women 31 About 1-in-3 women read the Herald, 31%, and somewhat more men read the Herald, Millennials (18-34) 19 39%. Generation X (35-44) 26 1-in 5 and 1-in-4 Millennial and Generations Baby Boomers (45-64) 42 X respondents read the Herald at least once Silent Generation (65+) 41 a week, but about 40% of Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation reported the same. Cardston 37 All communities had 31-37% respondents Glenwood 34 reading the Herald at least once a week, but Hillspring 17 in Hillspring there were only 17% and in Mountain View there were only 11%. Magrath 37

Mountain View 11

Raymond 31

Stirling 35 % of adult respondents who use Global 31% of respondents use the Lethbridge Global Lethbridge All Respondents 31% Men and women were about equally likely to Men 32 report watching Global Lethbridge at least once a week at a rate of about 1-in-3. Women 30 Older respondents were much more likely Millennials (18-34) 17 than younger respondents to watch Global Generation X (35-44) 26 Lethbridge, 38% and 17%.

Baby Boomers (45-64) 38 All communities saw similar rates of people Silent Generation (65+) 38 watching Global Lethbridge, about 1-in-3, except for Mountain View, which was 19%. Cardston 31

Glenwood 28

Hillspring 27

Magrath 33

Mountain View 19

Raymond 31

Stirling 34 % of adult respondents who use Temple City 18% of respondents read Temple Star City Star All Respondents 18% Temple City Star is a local community Men 21 newspaper printed in Cardston. It covers issues and news from Cardston, Mountain Women 17 View, Hill Spring, and Glenwood. Its Millennials (18-34) 6 circulation is primarily in those communities.

Generation X (35-44) 14 Men and women were about equally likely to report reading the Temple City Star on a Baby Boomers (45-64) 21 weekly basis, 1-in-5. Silent Generation (65+) 28 Older respondents were much more likely to Cardston 39 report reading the Temple City Star than Glenwood 21 younger respondents, but there was still only 28% in the demographic with the highest Hillspring 13 reporting rate, the Silent Generation. Magrath 2 Cardston saw the largest readership, 39%, Mountain View 28 with readership declining as distance increases from Cardston. Magrath, Raymond, Raymond 2 and Stirling all had 2% readership. Stirling 2 % of adult respondents who use Westwind 16% of respondents use Westwind Weekly Weekly All Respondents 16% The Westwind Weekly is similar to the Men 17 Temple City Star, but based out of Magrath with strong coverage in Raymond and Women 17 Stirling. only 16% of the overall population Millennials (18-34) 10 reads the Westwind Weekly on a weekly basis. Generation X (35-44) 16 17% of both men and women reported Baby Boomers (45-64) 21 reading the paper. Silent Generation (65+) 14 Baby Boomers were much more likely to Cardston 8 read the paper than any other demographic Glenwood 0 with 1-in-5. Millennials were much less likely with only 1-in-10 reporting reading the Hillspring 0 paper. Magrath 36 Magrath had a high readership percentage Mountain View 0 at 36%, with Raymond at 21% and Stirling at 15%. Cardston had 8%, with Glenwood, Hill Raymond 21 Spring, and Mountain View all showing 0%. Stirling 15 Internet Access and Smartphone Ownership

% of adult respondents have access to the 94% of respondents have access internet at home to the internet at home All Respondents 94% This is much higher than the percentage of Men 96 total Canadians who have access to the internet at home, which is 78%3. Women 94 The only community with a relatively low rate Millennials (18-34) 97 of reported home access to the internet is Generation X (35-44) 98 Hill Spring, at 83%.

Baby Boomers (45-64) 96 This tells us that if we use our online Silent Generation (65+) 85 communication effectively, we can reach nearly every single one of our residents Cardston 92 online, even the vast majority of the Silent Glenwood 97 Generation.

Hillspring 83

Magrath 96

Mountain View 94

Raymond 97

Stirling 94

3 comScore, Inc., Media Metrix Multi-Platform, CA, Total Audience, Monthly Q4 Avg. 2015 % of adult respondents have own a 79% of respondents own a smartphone smartphone All Respondents 79% Smartphones are the largest and fastest Men 77 growing tools for accessing the internet, sometimes this is the only internet connected Women 81 device people have or that they will use on a 4 Millennials (18-34) 94 regular basis .

Generation X (35-44) 91 The only demographic where a majority of the people who did not have a smartphone Baby Boomers (45-64) 84 were the Silent Generation. 1/4 of Cardston Silent Generation (65+) 42 residents did not own a smartphone, which correlates with higher elderly population in Cardston 75 Cardston. Glenwood 79 Almost 9 in 10 parents owned a smartphone, Hillspring 83 compared to only 6 in 10 non-parents. Magrath 80

Mountain View 86

Raymond 80

Stirling 88

Parents 88

Non-parents 59

4 comScore, Inc., Media Metrix Multi-Platform, CA, Total Audience, Monthly Q4 Avg. 2015 Frequency of Media Use Daily Weekly Facebook is by far the most popular, and the Facebook 43% 57% most regularly used of any communication medium. 43% of its users report that they use Twitter 38% 62% the site for more than one hour per day. Country 95 23% 77% Twitter users report similarly high levels of usage, even though the number of twitter Instagram 21% 79% users is hundreds lower than Facebook. Global Lethbridge 18% 82%

Country 95 has a high number of listeners and Pinterest 17% 83% the highest rate of usage per listener or user of any traditional media source. Youtube 16% 84% Lethbridge Herald 14% 86% The Lethbridge Herald has issues out every day, while the Temple City Star and Westwind LinkedIn 8% 92% Weekly both have only weekly issues, which Temple City Star 5% 95% likely accounts for the sharp drop in readers reporting daily usage. Westwind Weekly 2% 98%

Although a larger number of people use 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 Youtube and Pinterest, they are less likely to use the platform for more than about an hour a day than users of Facebook and Instagram. Community Media Literacy A question for our communities is which are the most and least adoptive of any media sources, and which is more attuned to social media or traditional media.

Cardston Glenwood Hill Spring Magrath Mountain View Raymond Stirling

Facebook 76% 62% 63% 81% 75% 78% 78%

Pinterest 41% 41% 27% 50% 44% 41% 54%

Instagram 26% 21% 27% 44% 28% 33% 33%

Twitter 8% 0% 0% 18% 6% 11% 11%

Youtube 60% 62% 40% 59% 44% 51% 56%

Country 95 41% 38% 50% 40% 44% 38% 44%

Global Lethbridge 31% 28% 27% 33% 19% 31% 35%

Lethbridge Herald 37% 34% 17% 37% 11% 31% 34%

Westwind Weekly 8% 0% 0% 36% 0% 21% 15%

Temple City Star 39% 21% 13% 2% 28% 2% 2%

3.66327 3.06897 2.63333 4.00966 3.00000 3.35593 3.62195

Magrath, Cardston, and Stirling have the All Media Social Media Traditional Medai highest overall percentage of general media adoption rates. Magrath, Stirling, Cardston and Raymond have the highest overall percentage of social media adoption. Glenwood Cardston, Magrath, and Stirling have the highest overall percentage of traditional Hill Spring media adoption. Magrath

Mountain View

Raymond

Stirling Using Multiple Sites: The Media Matrix5 Media users continue to use a relatively diverse array of platforms. More than half of online adults reported using more than one social media platform. A vast majority of all consumers of media reported using Facebook in addition to any other platform. Even readers of the Herald and local papers reported using Facebook on at least a weekly basis.

Substantial reciprocity across media platforms

Country Global Leth. Westwind Temple Facebook Pinterest Instagram Twitter Youtube 95 Leth. Herald Weekly City Star

% of Facebook users who use… 51% 37% 12% 61% 44% 31% 32% 16% 18%

% of Pinterest users who use… 90% 48% 12% 70% 49% 31% 34% 19% 18%

% of Instagram users who use… 90% 67% 20% 67% 48% 30% 38% 19% 18%

% of Twitter users who use… 89% 50% 61% 77% 40% 28% 45% 24% 16%

% of Youtube users who use… 84% 54% 38% 14% 45% 32% 36% 19% 19%

% of Country 95 users who use… 83% 53% 37% 10% 62% 36% 38% 20% 21%

% of Global Lethbridge users who use… 77% 44% 31% 9% 57% 47% 47% 23% 22%

% of Lethbridge Herald users who use… 74% 44% 36% 14% 60% 46% 43% 28% 30%

% of Westwind Weekly users who use… 77% 51% 37% 15% 65% 50% 44% 59% 17%

% of Temple City Star users who use… 78% 45% 32% 9% 60% 49% 38% 58% 16%

Outside of Facebook there were high levels of reciprocity in Pinterest and Youtube, with moderate reciprocity in Instagram, and very low levels in Twitter, which had a lower average level of reciprocity than any other media source. Local papers had the next lowest levels of reciprocity, with very few people using other mediums also using those. No social media source had a reciprocity level with a traditional media source that was over 50%., although Country 95’s reciprocity levels were in the high 40% range, except for Twitter users.

5 In the chart, green indicates a result over 75%, yellow between 50 and 75%, orange between 25 and 50%, and red below 25%. The Context of Canadian Social Media Usage There is a very high percentage of Canadians online, “85% of Canadians are online, using their desktop and/or mobile device.6” These Canadians spend nearly a quarter of their total time online on social media7. Habits and adoption of different platforms across age vary significantly.

While Facebook’s users mirror the internet as a whole, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine and especially Snapchat skew significantly younger

Demographic Composition % of Major Social Networks

100% 6.9 Snapchat is the 14.6 18.9 18.4 18.5 90% 23.8 21.9 21.1 21.4 youngest skewing 12.1 social network with 80% almost half of its 20.4 12.7 16.3 70% 17.9 users between 18- 23.0 25.1 22.6 25.2 23.7 24 years old and 60% 2/3rds of them 17.3 24.6 16.1 16.8 50% Age 55+ between the ages of 18.1 19.3 18.1 18.8 18.6 18-34. The most 40% Age 45-54 popular networks 21.9 22.7 24.2 among Millennials 30% Age 35-44 20.6 tend to be those 19.9 20.5 22.1 21.7 Age 25-34 20% 43.6 with visually- 25.6 25.7 Age 18-24 focused content that 10% 23.5 15.7 13.6 17.3 14.5 14.5 can be consumed 0% easiest on mobile devices.

Source: comScore Media Metrix Multi-Platform, CA, Age 18+, Monthly Q4 Average 2015 © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 39

While some of thee overall trends for social media use are mirrored in Westwind, the sheer number of people using Facebook vs. Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest makes using Facebook by far the most preferred method medium at this time.

6 comScore, Inc., Media Metrix Multi-Platform, CA, Total Audience, Monthly Q4 Avg. 2015

7 comScore, Inc., Media Metrix Multi-Platform, CA, Total Audience, Monthly Q4 Avg. 2015 Methodology In December 2016 Westwind School Division issued a communications survey to staff, parents, and the public. These were disseminated by mail, email, social media, and on the division and school websites.

In total, we mailed out a total of 6,214 surveys, with 5,803 delivered to occupied PO Boxes. 539 of the surveys mailed out were filled-out by the public, 251 were filled in online by parents, and 246 were filled in online by staff, for a total participation rate of 17.85%. Participants were made up of 144 Millennial, 293 Generation X, 367 Baby Boomer, 189 Silent Generation, and 43 no age given. Recommendations That the Board approve the report and aggregate survey results for public release by motion.