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You think we’re liberal. You mostly read us in the mornings. Most of you aren’t commenting. And you like us.

Those are some of the conclusions we found in Civil Beat’s reader survey for 2013, the first in our three-year history, and we’re happy to share some of the results to you.

Since the beginning, Civil Beat has always been about changing and being flexible to reflect our community’s needs. This online-only, 300-person survey conducted by the Merriman River Group will help guide us as we continue to evolve our coverage. This survey included subscribers and non-subscribers. And before you ask, Civil Beat does not release information about its subscriber base.

Here are some of the main takeaways from the survey, which was conducted in August:

• 79 percent of our readers find CB “extremely” or “very useful” in informing them on civic issues.

• 72 percent of our readers say we are “better” or “much better” then other news sources.

• 65 percent of our readers have been with us for more than a year and half of those from the start.

Our readers also overwhelmingly expect us to cover state and county-level issues, and there’s little to no expectation that we cover national or international issues. They also recognize we’re not a general news site, so things like sports and the arts aren’t missed.

Some of the audience comments also reflect what our mission is. Here’s an excerpt:

“Truth. Consistency. Humor.”

“More important since the Honolulu Weekly is gone.”

“Good reporting on issues not discussed on other forms of media.”

“Usually seems better researched than other Hawaii sources.”

There are things they want us to be stronger about. They want more education coverage, and we’re bolstering that with Alia Wong’s in-depth updates and a steady stream of news items on our blog. There’s also a desire for more business, science and tech coverage, which we may look at in the future.

More neighbor island coverage was a common refrain as well. We understand it’s a common complaint about most media outlets on Oahu, and it’s something we actively try to address. Recently we sent Sophie Cocke to Kauai and the big island of Hawaii to cover GMO-related issues, here and here.

There were some figures that disappointed me. About 70 percent of the respondents said they don’t comment on our stories, despite 78.4 percent of them having a Facebook account. About 27 percent of the respondents said they “never” use Facebook to view news stories, and 66 percent of them don’t even “like” our page, found right .

That’s a surprising figure, considering we have a very respectable number of likes (more than 15,000) and a highly engaged audience that comments back and forth on the Facebook page. Part of my job as engagement editor is to change that, since we want our readers to be actively engaged in discussing of important community issues. We want you to be talking to us, and our reporters to be talking to you.

The most encouraging statistic is that 99 percent of the readers find it important to stay informed about news that affects Hawaii, and that 93 percent of them visit a news website at least three times a week. That means you are educated, well informed, and feel a responsibility to stay informed.

It’s also our responsibility to keep you informed, and we hope to take the results of this survey and move forward. We have some exciting things in the works for you, and we’re ever grateful for your kokua and support.