You can expect to hear a lot about our plans at the AJC over these next couple of months.
As a subscriber to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, you know that we’ve been changing and adapting to the many developments in the media world so that we can continue to be Atlanta’s leading and most reliable source of news and information.
The latest news? We've improved and redesigned AJC.com to make it a more useful, bolder and more exciting web site. If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out it out at www.AJC.com.
The occasion gives me a moment to highlight the many ways you can access the AJC, to get what you need, when you need it, in your busy life. As a subscriber, of course, you have entree to our best journalism and access to special content beyond what we print in your newspaper or offer at AJC.com. But more about that — and the great products we offer subscribers — later.
Let’s start with the new AJC.com.
The site, which is available free, attracts 15.5 million visits each month, making it the largest local digital brand in the Atlanta market. We’re proud of that, and by almost any measure you’d pick, AJC.com is one of Atlanta’s favorite web sites.
It competes in a demanding world where users want information in a hurry, and they want it efficiently. Let’s just say that many users aren’t the type to sit down and read a printed newspaper, but they still want to know what’s going on.
The redesigned site does for them what they want.
The key mission of the site is “Atlanta News Now,” — what’s happening, and what metro Atlantans need to know about it.
Users will find the site’s navigation easier, with improved access to breaking news headlines, weather and traffic, in addition to videos and photo galleries. In fact, those photos and videos are among the most popular features for users.
The site also makes it easier to comment on stories, and simpler to share them with friends on social media.
You’ll find our popular bloggers there too, with their thoughts on sports, news and celebrity antics.
The site will have a spot for news about your community, and it will continue to be the “go-to” source on Atlanta’s best food, music, arts and entertainment.
We know that many users access the web on their mobile phones. AJC.com is set up to make that easier. Users will find that when they visit AJC.com on their mobile phone, they will get the same content they would get on a desktop computer, but with a clean, uncluttered experience and easier ability to scan stories quickly.
The changes at AJC.com exemplify an important part of our future. The site represents an introduction to our content and all that we do for many metro Atlantans, who might not know us as well as our subscribers. It will be key to our success.
But if you’re reading this, you’re almost certainly one of our subscribers. We appreciate that commitment, and we know you expect a lot from us.
So let’s spend a little time talking about all the things we have especially for you.
If you haven’t yet visited myAJC.com, I urge you to do so. It’s our premium web site for subscribers, and it offers content that’s only available to our best customers. It offers a thoughtful take on the news of the day and exclusive video and databases. Thanks to technology, you’ll get richer content that goes deeper than what we can offer in print.
So what does that mean? Let me give you a couple of examples.
- When we published a story about Georgia's high school graduation rates, that basic news was available to everyone in all of our products. But as for subscribers, myAJC.com offered the chance to look up, district by district and school by school, graduation rates in Georgia.
- MyAJC offers exclusive access to the Legislative Navigator, where you can see what bills your senator has sponsored and exactly how he or she has voted. You can even see the chances a particular bill will pass.
- MyAJC offers special access to premium storytelling experiences like War in Our Backyards, a deep, immersive account of the Battle of Atlanta, or Forgotten Memories, a video and graphics-rich documentary of one family's struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
As a subscriber, you also have access to AJCePaper, a page-by-page replica of your daily newspaper — plus even more features.
AJCePaper includes daily “virtual” sections that only appear there, including extra coverage of sports, news and lifestyle topics. If you need to email a story to a friend or find something you saw a few days ago, AJCePaper makes it easy.
And you can access AJCePaper and MyAJC.com when you’re on the road, so you can take the AJC with you. When I travel for the upcoming holidays, I won’t miss anything going on in Atlanta.
Both AJCePaper and MyAJC.com are available to subscribers simply by registering your account, which also gives you access to daily email newsletters that highlight special work you will not want to miss.
It used to be enough for us to toss a printed newspaper on your porch. That was the way for us to keep Atlanta informed, and to have a strong business.
We’ll keep bringing our subscribers that printed newspaper. And our mission will always be to inform metro Atlantans and Georgians, so that citizens can participate in making this a better place for all of us to live.
But we’ve got to provide that information in more ways, so that more people can keep up with what’s going on. And we are.
