[Ohio-talk] Fw: 1/10 NFB-NEWSLINE® Sponsor Newsletter - Exciting Developments!
Dr. Smith
jwsmithnfb at verizon.net
Sat Jan 30 00:48:01 UTC 2010
fyi
jw
Dr. J. Webster Smith
President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
P.O.BOX 458 Athens, Ohio, 45701-0458
Phone Number - 740-592-6326
"Changing What it Means to be Blind"
----- Original Message -----
From: NFB-NEWSLINE®
To: jwsmithnfb at verizon.net
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 4:15 PM
Subject: 1/10 NFB-NEWSLINE® Sponsor Newsletter - Exciting Developments!
Having trouble viewing this email? Click here
NFB-NEWSLINE® Newsletter
The Newsletter for Sponsors January 2010
In This Issue
Your Monthly Helpful Hint
Main Menu
Channel Chat
Statistics
Sponsor's Corner
Your Monthly
Helpful Hint
This is to remind you of the after-hours number we've established to alert us to major service issues. This number, (410) 609-7081, is expressly to be used to alert us about issues of a global system scale. This means that the issue affects subscribers at large, such as problems with a national publication or the TV listings, or if the system as a whole is impacted. For issues regarding an individual paper or an individual subscriber, it is best to call our regular number, (866) 504-7300, during business hours. We want to hear from your or our subscribers if there is a major issue affecting the system so that we can resolve it as soon as possible. We appreciate your assistance in helping us to provide a top-notch service to our subscribers!
--------------------------------------------------
Quick Links
NFB-NEWSLINE® Home Page
NFB-NEWSLINE® Online
Got Questions? Get Answers!
--------------------------------------------------
NFB-NEWSLINE® is a service of the National Federation of the Blind
:: 410-659-9314
Dear J.W.,
Welcome, Sponsors, to the January 2010 issue of NFB-NEWSLINE® Happenings! This newsletter provides information about exciting developments; please read and pass on the good news to your community!
Take care, and should you have any questions about this newsletter, please e-mail me at rwest at nfb.org.
Main Menu
We've got lots of good news to share with you this month! We encourage you to share the information below with your colleagues and clients so that they can be aware of, and tell others about, these exciting developments. In addition to these exciting developments, we also want to remind you to take some time to check out our new statistics and reports available on the administration Web site. An e-mail was sent out describing the new information, but if you either didn't receive it or if you would like more information about this data and how it can be of service to you, please e-mail Renee West at rwest at nfb.org.
Firstly, you will all shortly have an opportunity to meet Paul, our new, more human-sounding voice. Paul from NeoSpeech, who, as you may recall was subscribers' top choice in our recent poll, will be available sometime early February. One benefit of this new voice is that it sounds much more human than the current Eloquence voice, so that newly blinded individuals unfamiliar with synthesized speech (such as seniors) may feel more comfortable using NFB-NEWSLINE®. Those with a slight hearing loss may also appreciate this new voice as it may be easier to hear and follow. While we do think many individuals will like and use Paul, we want to stress that this new voice is not a substitution for the Eloquence voice, rather, it is an additional voice provided to afford our subscribers with greater choice and flexibility. We view that those who are not familiar or comfortable with synthesized speech may prefer to use Paul initially, but may in time prefer the Eloquence voice as it offers a faster reading speed.
Another terrific development will soon be available to subscribers: subscribers accessing the news via the telephone can now make an on-demand request to have an article sent to their e-mail inbox on demand. This is great news for those who want to read an article again for research purposes, or if they find they don't have time to fully read or appreciate a complex or lengthy piece. To use this feature, subscribers simply press #9 (pound nine) during the reading of an article, and the article will be sent to the e-mail address on file. Naturally, this means that the subscriber needs to have provided his or her e-mail address, so this is another reason to ask subscribers for that information.
Also, subscribers will soon be able to easily download their favorite publications to their GW Micro BookSense via NFB-NEWSLINE® In Your Pocket. Many subscribers have purchased this small digital talking-book player and have asked us to create compatibility with their device so that they could enjoy the quick and easy download process, and we're excited to offer this access method to those individuals.
Finally, we have added several new publications over the past few weeks, including the following:
Newspapers:
The Helena Independent Record of Helena, Montana
The Watertown Tab and Press of Watertown, Massachusetts
Northwest Arkansas Morning News of Springdale, Arkansas
Magazines:
USA Weekend Magazine is a national publication distributed through more than 600 newspapers in the United States. It reaches 49 million readers in 23 million households every weekend. Awarded for its journalism and design, USA WEEKEND focuses on social issues, entertainment, health, food, and travel.
Smithsonian Magazine, the award-winning, monthly publication from the Smithsonian Institute, features articles on history, travel, arts, science, people, and places.
Channel Chat
Don't forget that you can recruit a volunteer to help you make the most out of your State Information Channel. This venue can be a truly valuable source of information for the print-disabled in your state, and can help you to spread the message about your own agency's or organization's activities. We understand that the limited number of staff hours makes it difficult for you to give time to the use and upkeep of the channel, and we want to help you so that you can easily reach those you serve. Remember that with the two levels of sponsor agent access, you can enlist a volunteer to help manage your Information Channel but protect subscriber data. For more information, please e-mail Renee West at rwest at nfb.org.
2009: It Was a Very Good Year
NFB-NEWSLINE® experienced unprecedented success in 2009 in terms of statistical showmanship, and in expanding both publication content and access methods.
We had tremendous achievement across the board in 2009, making terrific improvements over the previous year's usage and new member statistics, as evidenced below:
2008
New Users: 5,916
Total Emails: 1,156,020
Total Calls: 1,675,387
Total Minutes Used: 32,793,945
2009
New Users: 13,340
Total E-mails: 1,833,343
Total Calls: 1,772,046
Total Minutes Used: 33,935,582
Pretty impressive, huh? We've all been working hard to obtain new and retain existing subscribers, and to help subscribers get the most out of NFB-NEWSLINE®. Your partnership and work in this endeavor is truly valued.
In addition to the launch of NFB-NEWSLINE® Online, we also added a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, so that as of December 31st, we offered 294 newspapers, 12 magazines, and 4 audio publications.
We added a total of 19 papers in 2009, as follows:
One newspaper was added in each one of the following states:
Arkansas
District of Columbia
Massachusetts
Michigan
Mississippi
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
South Carolina
Tennessee
Washington State
Wisconsin
Two newspapers were added in New York and Pennsylvania.
Three newspapers were added in Texas.
During 2009, six magazines were added to the system as follows:
Time
Texas monthly
Parade
Popular Science
Science News
National Association of Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE)
Statistically Speaking
In December, 2009 we received a total of 152,392 calls (up by 946 over November's usage), and added a total of 2,688 new subscribers. Excellent work, everybody!
Top Ten Minutes Used:
We received a total of 2,883,120 minutes of use in December. Kudos to Florida and New York, who have made increases of 5,392 and 4,046 above November's usage, respectively.
1. California 273,065
2. New York 183,512
3. Florida 178,861
4. Massachusetts 168,022
5. Ohio 143,958
6. Illinois 141,941
7. Maryland 119,178
8. Texas 118,548
9. Pennsylvania 114,393
10. Michigan 97,781
Top Ten New Subscribers:
Lots of good work here, especially New Jersey! Don't forget that if you need ideas, information, or promotional materials to help you market NFB-NEWSLINE® you can contact Renee West at rwest at nfb.org for assistance.
1. Florida with 2,335
2. California and Arkansas with 27 each
3. New Jersey with 24
4. Texaswith 23
5. Pennsylvania with 19
6. Wisconsin with 18
7. Massachusetts with 13
8. Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan with 12 each
9. New York, Maryland, Washington, and Nebraska with 11 each
10. North Carolina with 10
E-mail Superstars:
We sent a total of 155,994 e-mails in December, an increase of over 7,000 above November's usage.
1. Texas 13,051
2. New York 10,286
3. Florida 8,151
4. Pennsylvania 7,756
5. North Carolina 6,908
6. Massachusetts 6,447
7. California 6,338
8. Colorado 6,273
9. Michigan 5,510
10. New Jersey 5,506
Top Ten Registered Subscribers:
Below is our Gang of Ten, congratulations to you all!
1. Florida with 17,305
2. California with 6,751
3. Maryland with 3,038
4. Texas with 2,967
5. Michigan with 2,684
6. North Carolina with 2,654
7. Wisconsin with 2,438
8. New York with 2,396
9. Ohio with 2,315
10. Massachusetts with 1,956
Sponsor's Corner
In addition to providing service statistics, this newsletter is geared toward helping our sponsors to be aware of additions and upgrades to our service and helping you in your efforts to market NFB-NEWSLINE®. We would appreciate your feedback with regard to this newsletter, so that it can be of most value to you. Please let us know what you find most valuable and/or least valuable in the newsletter, and what information you would like to see so as to assist you in understanding and marketing the service. Please call Renee West, Marketing and Outreach Manager, at (410) 659-9314, extension 2411 to discuss. Any feedback would be most appreciated!
Forward email
This email was sent to jwsmithnfb at verizon.net by rwest at nfb.org.
Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Email Marketing by
NFB-NEWSLINE | 1800 Johnson Street | Baltimore | MD | 21230
More information about the Ohio-Talk
mailing list