Newsletters:
Past and Present
Research shows that
the first newsletter appeared in 1538, long before newspapers became
the standard medium for news stories. However, the
exact name of this newsletter continued to confound historians. The
first known newsletter, however, was The Continuation of Our Weekly
News from Forrain Parts. Distributed in England in 1631, it featured
happenings of locals overseas. In the United States, the first newsletter
to make its appearance was the Boston News-Letter in 1704, which eventually
became a newspaper. In fact, in the 1700s, many newsletters flourished,
and in the 1800s, most went the way of newspapers.
By early 1900s, newsletters made a comeback. Apparently, businesses
and industries needed specialized information badly and newsletters
readily
filled that void. The first to surface during this time was Babson's
Report, an investment advisory newsletter published in 1904. This was
followed by the Kiplinger Letter in 1923, which continues to be the
most widely-read business forecasting periodical in the world.
In 1930, corporate newsletters emerged rapidly. Telecommunications
Reports (a telecommunications industry newsletter) took the lead
in 1934. All
types of newsletters ranging from farming to fashion also became
commonplace. Then, in 1964, the first newsletter about newsletters,
Newsletter on
Newsletters, was produced.
In mid-1980, the advent of personal computers rapidly altered the
concept of the workplace. It was during this time that "desktop
publishing" — the use of computers to produce print materials —
became an important buzzword. Newsletters embraced these changes
with open arms. With desktop
publishing, creating newsletters had never been easier. It was
now just a matter of using personal computers to design and print
professional,
quality typeset documents.
In the 21st century, newsletters appeared in another medium — online
in a Web-based version. Known as electronic newsletters, these
are usually distributed by e-mail to individuals who voluntarily
subscribe to them
online.
Initially, electronic newsletters contained hyperlinks to Web
pages — a
method employed by Web site managers to draw Internet users
to their sites. By increasing their hits and page views, Web site
managers could
generate revenue from banner ads posted by advertisers.
However, it became clear that Internet users were more interested
in getting information from their e-mail accounts than from
Web sites, so electronic newsletters are now full-fledged,
content-rich
publications.
Advertisers are also more willing to sponsor such newsletters
as they
believe their ads are better targeted and more effective
than banner ads.
According to the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Association (NEPA),
there are hundreds of thousands of newsletters that exist in the world
today. Nearly every trade and professional association, PTA and homeowners
association publishes a newsletter. Many large corporations have an internal
newsletter to communicate what's happening within their company. Other
companies publish a newsletter to use for public relations purposes.
NEPA's best guess is that there are approximately 8,000 subscription
newsletters in print today.
References:
America's First Newspaper. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 22,
2002, from http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/newspaper/index.html
Newsletters:
400 years old…and still going strong! (n.d.).
Retrieved
November 19, 2002, from
http://www.newslettersonly.com/newsletters_history.htm
Kitalong,
Karla Saari. (1999). What is Desktop Publishing?
Retrieved
November 21, 2002,
from Michigan Technological University Web site: http://spark.apps.tp.edu.sg/libweb/dmr/package2/history.htm
Microsoft
Corp. (n.d.). Periodicals. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia.
Retrieved
November 20, 2002, from http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761567699
The
Newsletter Company. (n.d.). A short history of the Newsletter.
Retrieved November
18, 2002,from
http://www.newslet.com.au/newspage5.html (removed)
Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Association.
Retrieved May 16,
2004, from
http://www.newsletters.org/page.cfm?name=faqs
back
to top
|