May marks the beginning of a new partnership between the Washington Daily News and Google.

Because of this partnership, visitors to TheWashingtonDailyNews.com may be asked a simple question or two when they visit our website to see certain articles and stories. Moving on to the content is as easy as answering the question(s).

The feature is safe, easy to use and won’t open the floodgates to spam or junk email.

We want to know what you think. In fact, your thoughts are highly interesting to national corporations and marketing firms trying to gain a better understanding of Americans’ thoughts on all kinds of things.

It only takes a few seconds to answer the questions and doing so helps us continue to serve customers with free online news about your community.

The decision to enter this partnership with Google was made after careful consideration. It’s part of the continuing evolution of news organizations working to balance gathering and reporting of news and information while at the same time remaining a viable business.

Rather than create a paid online version of the Washington Daily News or give limited access to non-paying readers, we are simply asking for a few minutes of your time.

In short, our website remains free and readers will be given total access to the site after answering one or two questions each day.

Questions range from general ones about purchasing habits to specific ones about watching a particular show or choosing which advertisement is more appealing.

Here are a few examples:

Which one of these food items would you prefer to eat while watching a sporting event?

• Popcoren

• Pizza

• Chicken wings

• Chips

• Hot dog

How important is new technology when considering a new vehicle?

• Not at all important

• Somewhat important

• Very important

We don’t want to charge readers for access to important local content available at TheWashingtonDailyNews.com. This partnership helps us do that. Thanks for participating.

Ashley Vansant is the publisher of the Washington Daily News. He can be reached at ashley.vansant@thewashingtondailynews.com.