For the third installment of Google Voice user stories, we heard from Grant Barrett, the co-host of A Way with Words, a radio show about words and language.


Tell us about your organization
A Way with Words is run by a nonprofit with an educational mission: to further understanding of language, to encourage life-long learning, and to promote human understanding through better communication. It airs in 73 different cities and at a lot of different times, so, our toll-free number is a necessity. We can't be there at all hours to answer.

How are you using Google Voice?
Calls go from the toll-free number to a local number to voicemail -- Google Voice -- where we archive them and use them to plan future shows. Five of us look at the transcripts and listen to the calls. We use the notes field to indicate which are feedback for follow-ups, which are new questions that we might want to turn into segments, and which are stories from listeners who want to be heard but maybe don't want to be on the air. We mix those with what we get via email and social media, and in that way put together a show.

Now that we have more than 2800 calls saved on Google Voice we can use it like we already use our email: as a repository of questions and comments from listeners. So if one person asks about, say, why bell peppers are called mangoes in part of the country, we can search through the voicemail transcripts (which, while imperfect, are good enough), and our email, and begin to get an idea of what a lot of people want to know about that topic. It helps tailor each segment of the show.

There is an insatiable need -- a hunger, even -- to have questions about language answered. People ask us more questions in a given week than we could possibly ever answer in a weekly, hour-long show. But we're doing more than we were before, and Google Voice is a part of that.


If you or someone you know is using Google Voice in a unique way, we’d love to hear about it! Fill out this short form and your story may get featured on the Google Voice blog.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Ever wake up after a long night and see you called a bunch of exes but don't remember what you said? We're sure you haven't, but, well, we've heard it happens. Quite a bit.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that today we’re launching the Voice-alyzer setting to hopefully prevent this from ever happening again.

The next time you know an eventful night is in store, head to the Calls tab in Google Voice Settings. Check the “Enable Voice-alyzer” box, and set the hour that you want the feature to go into effect.

With Voice-alyzer enabled, our IVR will prompt you to spell everyday words with your keypad, like “embarrassed”, ”dizzy” or ”Czechoslovakia”, before we connect your call.

If the Voice-alyzer determines that you are not in a fit state to be having a conversation, it will prevent the call from connecting and send you a text message with contact info for 3 local cab companies instead.

Concerned about sending poorly thought out texts? Don’t be, we’ve got you covered there as well. All text messages sent while Voice-alyzer is enabled are scanned for accuracy and held in your outbox if fat-fingered words or more than 2 exclamation points or question marks are detected.

This new feature will be rolling out gradually to all Google Voice users over the next 24 hours.

We hope that you find it to be helpful, and as always, recommend dialing responsibly.

Posted by Tina Donaldson, Anti-Embarrassment Enforcement Officer

Update (12:01 am): Happy April 1st.