25 Random Things About the Good News Network |
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Posted by geri
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Sunday, 22 February 2009 |
The website went live on Labor Day weekend in 1997.
- The biggest spike in traffic occurred on September 11 and Sept. 12, 2001.
- The second biggest spike in traffic occurred the week in September 2008 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions.
- I was described in a Washington Times report as a cross between Deepak Chopra and Ann Landers.
- Colin Powell sent me a note in 1998 telling me to keep up the good work.
- In the last
decade, three of the top good news stories about the environment were thanks to the Bush Administration: They created the two
largest marine preserves in the world and set tougher standards for diesel.
- Three years ago, I received a donation of $800.00 by a woman named Dinah in Murphy, North Carolina.
- I was a panelist on a BBC World Service discussion about government's potential for using good news as a way to
white wash the truth.
- For six years I published an 8-page printed newsletter for around 100 subscribers -- mostly family and friends -- which was distributed free to prisons, a juvenile detention center and homeless shelter. Download the September 11, 2001 Commemorative edition in PDF.
- I first had the idea for a Good News Network TV show in 1982, my first summer working in TV news in Washington, DC.
- You can find all the good news stories that took place on your birthday using my ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY column on the front page.
- GNN-i has never made a profit but, has never stopped trying. For instance, we sell "GOOD HAPPENS " designs on bumper stickers, tees, hoodies, bibs and tote bags at CafePress.com/goodnewsnetwork.
- A survey of 687 users of the Good News Network in April, 2008 revealed that 67 percent would pay for the content.
- After more than ten years of giving away the Website content for free, the Good News Network transitioned to a membership site on May 11, 2008.
- 26 percent of subscription purchasers so far have chosen to voluntarily pay more than the minimum amount under our "Pay what you can afford" policy (choosing either $47.00 or $97.00, instead of the lower option of $24.00 - for the same benefits).
I was a stay-at-home mom when I created the website with kids ages 7, 5 and 3. Today the kids are 18, 15 and 13.
- The Good News Network has been featured in Women's World, The Washington Post, Newsday, Whole Life Times, American Journalism Review, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
- The most helpful motivation for me in starting the Network came from a series of ten lessons based on Mary Manin Morrissey's book Building Your Field of Dreams
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- GNN-i retains the #1 position on Google (for searches of "good news") thanks to thousands of incoming links from pages around the internet.
- The first story ever submitted by a reader was written by my mother-in-law, about a dog saving a puppy in a drain pipe. The September 1997 story, entitled Annie to the Rescue, can still be found in our Archives.
- CNN founder Ted Turner told me in 2006 that he thought a good news program could be successful. (Why he didn't succeed with such a segment, when they produced it early-on for CNN, remains a mystery.)
- Made on a Mac for 12 years.
- We have a YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/goodnewsnetwork
- We Twitter and Skype with the username, geriwc.
- My wonderful English webmaster lives in Spain (Andrew Hemming of Footprint Media).
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