Julia Roy, A Digital Girl

Be Inspired to Do the Work

I have been working hard lately on streamlining my workflow and increasing my productivity and creative output. Now that I am my own boss working from home, I have found it incredibly hard to stay on task and focused. I've realized my online habits are working against me and keeping me from getting the important things done. The talk below by Tony Schwartz: The Myths of the Overworked Creative has been very helpful in guiding me towards a more productive and sustainable workday. I hope it serves as a piece of inspiration for you too!

  

In the spirit of inspiring a more productive workday, I've shared below a gallery of my favorite desktop backgrounds from MinimalWall. Download a your favorites and make them your backround to remind yourself everyday to focus on what's important and ship your work!

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Technological Singularity

In April I went to a pre-screening of Transcendent Man, not knowing what to expect or how it would changes my beliefs on what the future will bring. 

Transcendent Man is a documentary of Ray Kurzweil, a serial inventor and freakishly accurate futurist. What I experienced while watching the film cannot be put into words. I was speechless myself. When the film was over, the lights came up and all I could mutter was..."holy shit." Previously, I had no idea who Ray was but after seeing his film I looked him up on Wikipedia and wondered how I had never heard of him. Many call him the modern day Tomas Edison for all his incredible inventions (flat bed scanner, reading machine for the blind, etc, etc) and he has an amazing talent–predicting the future of technology.

The basis of Ray's work today is grounded in singularity theory and exponential growth. I've pulled the definition from Wikipedia below. 

Singularity Theory

... is the study of the failure of manifold structure. A loop of string can serve as an example of a one-dimensional manifold, if one neglects its width. What is meant by a singularity can be seen by dropping it on the floor. Probably there will appear a number of double points, at which the string crosses itself in an approximate 'X' shape. These are the simplest kinds of singularity. Perhaps the string will also touch itself, coming into contact with itself without crossing, like an underlined 'U'. This is another kind of singularity. Unlike the double point, it is not stable, in the sense that a small push will lift the bottom of the 'U' away from the 'underline'.

Exponential Growth

... occurs when the growth rate of a mathematical function is proportional to the function's current value. In the case of a discrete domain of definition with equal intervals it is also called geometric growth or geometric decay (the function values form a geometric progression).The exponential growth model is also known as the Malthusian growth model. US scholar Albert Bartlett pointed out the difficulty to grasp ramifications of exponential growth, stating: "The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."

Not being a stellar math or science student, it was very confusing to me at first to understand the math and science behind it all. How I have come to understand it, singularity is the point at which a given mathematical object can no longer be defined; and exponential studies how growth is not linear or constant, but rather it accelerates as it advances. We have been experiencing exponential growth in biology, economics, physics and computer technology for decades and we are at a point in the growth curve where we are going to start to see rapid advancement in all fields. Singularity theory suggests that we will reach a point where the technology we have created will transcend our own human intelligence and capability. We will then have the opportunity to merge our biological bodies with technology, making us infinitely smarter and stronger. Ray predicts this point of singularity will begin in year 2045. 

All this blows my mind and I have to say... I believe it. 

I attended recently the Singuarity Summit in NYC, a 2-day event that brought in speakers from all over the world to discuss all kinds of future intelligence studies and ideas. I'm not ashamed to say (OK, maybe a bit) that as an attendee I've never questioned my own IQ so much, as many of the speakers talked mostly over my head. Still, my takeaway is that the singularity is very real. We are living in a time where technological advancements in areas like neuroscience, robotics, nano tech, computer tech, biology, physics, etc. are growing at a rate that is so fast, sooner than most of us can imagine, we will be merging ourselves with technologies that will make us half human and half AI. 

I know this is a wild (and pretty freaky) idea to grasp, but some of the predictions for the future include mind uploading, immortality and omnipresence. The technology we are creating today will continue to build upon itself and will outpace our own capabilities, which will create a dilemma–either merge with artificial intelligence or become irrelevant. There is of course optimistic and pessimistic views of what this kind of technology means for the future. If we can download Google to our brains, manipulate and change our own DNA, reverse the aging process, etc., we will become in effect super-humans. What will we do with this power? Also, if we build and bring to life AI robots that have intelligence beyond human capability, what will they do with that power?

It is inevitable that humans will use the advanced technology we've created to evolve. Think about today versus 40 years ago. The most advanced computer was a $1M machine that was the size of a city block with little computing power and today the smartphone that fits in your pocket is thousands of times more capable and affordable. Now remember exponential growth. Is it really so hard to believe that what fits in our pocket today could be the size of a blood cell and implanted in our body 10 or 20 years from now? I don't think so. 

The Great Unknown

Right now I'm sitting at the table in my living room and writing this post thinking OMG!

Friday was my last day as VP of Marketing at Manilla, and today marks the first day of my new adventure. I've left the full-time employee with benefits world to start two initiatives:

1. my own marketing consultancy helping brands with digital and social strategy, and 
2. launching WorkHacks, a startup business that aligns with one of my true passions- lifehacking and productivity

With the experience of helping build and launch a  startup (Manilla), and with the incredible support of friends, family and mentors, I find myself thinking about this new life and what I am going to make of it. 

I've wanted to make this leap to career independence for a few years now, but I lacked the strength, confidence and guts to pull the trigger. I finally found it within myself to believe in my own potential and, as I sit here contemplating what my to-do list for today should be, I have to embrace the excitement, fear and uncertainty I feel. I've jumped into the great unknown, where my fate no longer rests on meeting the expectations of my job title, but rather my ability to sell, (over)deliver and scale great work as a consultant and bring my vision for WorkHacks to life.  

The realization that I am now my own CEO, boss and direct report is overwhelming and a bit terrifying. Since I joined the workforce with my first job at 16 years old, I've been taught to take direction, do what I'm told and always try to overdeliver on my bosses expectations to make them look good to their boss and prove my value. That imposed structure is gone and it's my responsibility to set the business objectives and goals and of course deliver against them everyday. 

Big challenges lie ahead as I work to pave my own path, but I'm guided by a determination to shape my own future and destiny. I can't even express how excited I am to have woken up in this new world. Up, up and away...

Intel Museum of Me via Facebook Connect

Great Facebook Connect play by Intel called Museum of Me. So much fun, try it!

MobileMe Found My Phone

I signed up for the 60 day free trail of MobileMe about 45 days ago. I wanted to take it for a spin mainly because of the multi-device contact sync feature. I sorely needed the ability to add a new contact on any of my three devices–work computer, home computer and phone–and then have my address book sync in the cloud, automatically updating all my devices without requiring a manual sync via iTunes. Although MobileMe has several other useful features, contact syncing was the only feature I really needed.

When setting up MobileMe, I noticed the Find My Phone feature and went through the process to enable the feature on my iPhone. Fast forward 45 days to last Wednesday, when I was on a work trip to San Francisco and lost my phone somewhere between the plane and the SFO airport exit. Distracted, already late for my meeting and outside the security checkpoint, I realized my phone was gone and it was too late to go back and try to find it. 

Despite being frantic and confused, I remembered that I had set up the MobileMe "find my phone" feature, and I quickly hopped on the airport wi-fi with my computer to log on to my me.com account. Selected the find my phone icon and within seconds–BAM!–there it was.

It was not a surprise, or particularly helpful, that showed my my phone was in fact still in the airport, but it seemed like a miracle that I could immediately password lock, wipe data and/or send a message to display on the phone. I had bought the phone a month prior and had not password protected it (stupid, I know), so you can imagine what a HUGE relief it was that I could quickly and easily protect access to the sensitive information stored in my email, contacts, notes... you name it.

Beyond the peace of mind that my information and data was safe, during the two days on the hunt to get it back, I was able to check-in and confirm that it had never left the airport. All the while the airline and airport's lost and found said they didn't seem to have it. But I knew it was there! I followed up in email conversations with the airline and airport personel attaching the screenshots above. Without MobileMe I would have given up and accepted it was gone, but I persisted, eventually it was found and now my iPhone is on its way back to me. 

To buy a new iPhone 4 would have cost me $760.00. The MobileMe service is $99/yr. When my 60 day trial is up in the next few weeks, I will fork over the cash to keep my account. It has more than paid for itself.

My Top 5 Favorite Productivity Tools

I am a little (okay maybe a lot) app crazy. Browser plug-ins, add-ons, application extensions, web-based services, Mac tools, software apps... I'm always compelled to sign-up, download and trial them all. This little obsession of mine can sometimes get out of hand, warrenting an official internet confession (I CONFESS!) and a official Top 5 Favorite Daily Productivity Tools list. It was hard to pick just 5, but these are really the core apps that I use every day to be more productive.  Here goes...

Things for Mac, Text Expander, RescueTime, Evernote, Quicksilver and DropBox.

 

Things for Mac is a task management Mac application that helps you organize and manage your projects, tasks, due dates, notes, etc. I tend to have a hard time sticking to a task management system for longer than 6 months, but Things has made an honest women of me. I was notorious for quickly dropping one task management app/service for a new, shiny one. I don't see that happening with Things, because not only does it have all the features and functionality I need, it's damn sexy. The app design, dashboard interface and tab navigation is inspired by a Leopard-style source list, so I immediately felt comfortable with the user flow and logic. It is clean, intuitive and looks great on my desktop. Sometimes I feel organized just by simply looking at it. Aside from it's full feature set, including tagging, filtering, syncing, search, reoccurring to-do's, integration with Quicksilver(love!), etc., a clean and smart design that–even in complete chaos–I feel totally organized. Also important is the mobile integration with both an iPhone and iPad app (the iPad app looks sick). System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later. Offers free trial– Download.

Text Expander is a software that integrates itself into a computer's system preferences, allowing you to take any block of text and attach a shortkey to it so that when you type the shortkey the block of text anywhere on your computer, it auto-expand's your text like magic, so you don't have to type it. I use it to auto-expand standard email copy, HTML/CSS code, email signatures, work and home addresses, directions, and other frequently typed text. Text Expander offers a lot more cool features than I use it for, but I love how it saves me from having to type the same thing over and over again. I even have it set up to where "cellphone#" auto-expands my 10 digit phone number. Yes, I went there. The software also gives you the stats around how many "Snippets" you have expanded, characters you have saved and the number of hours you have avoided typing by using the software. According to my account, I have expanded 2,258 Snippets, saved myself from typing 137,323 characters and avoided an additional 10 hours of typing at 70 WPM. Thank you Text Expander. System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 and above. Offers free trial– Download.

RescueTime is a web-based service that uses a software tool you install in your menu bar to track, categorize and report back to you with graphs and data of exactly how and where you spend your time on the computer, every minute that you are on it (you can easily pause tracking at any point if you wish). When I stumbled across this site about 6 months ago, I was freaked out to use it. I honestly didn't want to see a report that showed me exactly how much time I spend here and there–I feared what it would show–and it was that fact alone that made me sign up. Like most of us, I spend A LOT of time on my computer, and felt that tracking my every computer move and analyzing the daily, weekly and monthly reports would undoubtedly give me a clearer understanding of where I can be inefficient, spend too much time, not enough time, etc.

It gives you some fascinating data like an efficiency summary (basically how your total computer time on average compares to others) and your productivity by day, as a line graph that shows your hours spent and levels of productivity (I bravely attached a screenshot of my productivity this week in the screenshot below, take a look). I have found that the data is really relevant and useful because I established the productivity level for every application and website I visit regularly, giving them a ranking of  "productive +1 " "very productive +2" "distracting -1" or "neutral 0." Every application on my computer and every site on my browser has a rank associated with it based upon how 1. important the activity is to doing my job, 2. what activities, sites and apps I use as daily little distractions and 3. what things are truly neutral, being neither distracting nor productive. I do not look at my productivity levels and efficiency results daily, but do check in once a week to assess how productive I've been, and take a look at how the last week's computer time compares to weeks and months prior. I've come to like analyzing my RescueTime results because it reminds me to always strive to be more efficiency with my time and gives me a pat on the back when I have a rocking week. Offers free 30 day trial– Download.

 

Evernote is a web-service, desktop client and mobile app that lets you to quickly capture, categorize and save pretty much any type of content, so that you can easily find, and access it again later. For me, what make the Evernote service so powerful is its accessibility across different devices, unique functionalities that enable users to easily upload and save really any type of content, easily file it to their account and, simply use their account search box to find it later. I have been using Evernote for a few years now and it has become one of the most valued applications on my desktop. I use it both my professional notebook and personal scrapbook. Evernote is where I keep all my research, save clips of interesting statistics/articles that I may want to reference later, and store all my personal notes, ideas and digital keepsakes that I collect. If you want to find a easy, efficient and organizable system to digitally save the things in your life you should try Evernote. On the Evernote site they suggest creative ways you can leverage the "infinitely useful" technology, and it's features to better archive ones content and life better. If you have not given Evernote a spin yet, you really should. The service and platform is free for all users, but they do offer premium paid accounts that features additional storage space. System Requirements: Mac OS X or Windows. They also have mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry. Download.

 

Quicksilver is a lightweight, universal application launcher that lives in your dock. With a simple keystroke launch command, Quicksilver will pop up in the middle of your screen, immediately allowing you start typing the name of any application, file or folder to locate and open it quickly. Also with Quicksilver, if you take the time learn the tricks, enable its plug-ins and create triggers in the Preferences panel, you will be surprised what a little hacker Quicksilver really is. Simply through activating Quicksilver you can quickly move files, tag and file documents, add an iCal meeting to your calendar, perform a google search without the browser... and the list goes on and on. This app is a no-brainer. It's lightweight, flexible, highly customizable and can be leveraged to handle frequent, daily tasks in a fraction of the time. With Quicksilver, performing an action and completing a task is as simple as launching Quicksilver with a keyboard shortcut, typing "iCal" and pressing the space bar to begin typing, scheduling and saving a meeting that will be automatically updated to your iCal. People that learn use Quicksilver to its fullest potential can perform any task faster than anyone else in the room. Quicksilver is a free application for Mac OS only– Download.

Dropbox is a web-based file hosting service that allows you upload, sync and share files easily online and across computers. It is pretty simple really. After signing up, Dropbox creates a secure, hosted folder that can be shared between two computers. The alternative to Dropbox is emailing your docs back and forth or saving them to an external hard drive. After using it for a while now, I cannot express enough how essential it has been to helping me keep my work and home computer synced so that I don't have to constantly email myself files or lug my work computer back and forth everyday. It is available to Download for Windows, Mac, Linux and Mobile. Dropbox offer 2 GB of free storage upon signup. They have a referal based incentive progam that can earn you more free storage.

LessConf 3010

LessConf, the conference from the future (yes, the future), is only 6 days away. I'm particularly excited about this event, as I have never been to Atlanta and the conference looks like it is going to be both a fun and enlightening experience.

If you watch the trailer promos for the conference, it should be clear that it this event is organized to humor, inspire and delight all those who attend. Free neck massages, BBQ lunches, bacon filled pancakes and sponsored parties is a nice additional touch to a conference that has secured a great speaker lineup of entrepreneurs, designers and marketers.  

Speakers include: Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson founders of 37signals; Cameron Moll of AuthenticJobs.com; Chris Wanstrath founder of GitHub; Saul Colt Thoora's Head of Magic; Dan Martell cofounder of Flowtown; Clay Hebert founder of Tribes Win; Peldi Guilizzoni founder of Balsamiq; Alex Hillman cofounder of IndyHall.

If you are looking for a last-minute conference to attend this weekend, LessConf is calling you.

My Twitter Story

As you have probably noticed, I have not blogged in months. I know, shame on me. But good news is I'm back and ready to share my little heart out about all things digital and social. Although somewhat random, I decided my first post back would take you through my personal experience and thoughts on Twitter. I've been thinking a lot about the future lately and in doing so my mind always wanders to the past, how it all started and where it lead me to.  

Click, Follow, Click, Follow

I joined Twitter 2007 and for quite some time it was my only digital presence, and because of that it really shaped my approach to all the networks from that point forward. I was a power networker and adamant about following back those that followed me (with the exception of spammers and shameless promoters) and chatted, shared and supported anyone and everyone who crossed my Twitter path. My philosophy was simple - if someone found me interesting enough to follow, I should open the door and extend the same thing back. This was the early stages of Twitter, when it was small yet growing, and so following back just seemed like the right social thing to do. It was easy to manage then, and we were all trying to learn from each other. Following was the thing to do, and I embraced it fully without hesitation.  

Click, follow, click, follow, click, follow. As the site grew so did the follower requests, which required hours  of click, follow, click, follow every day just to keep up, not even including time spent actually engaging and interacting with those new followers. I was willing to put in the time though because I was a passionate user and believer in where this whole Twitter thing was going. Today, I'm often asked "how did you get so many followers?" and always think back to the days of click, follow, click, follow and say "for a good part of a year I spent almost all my free time on Twitter following, @ing, DMing and interacting with total strangers, who introduced me to more strangers, whom eventually  became friends and my biggest online supporters." 

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

Those early days seem so far away to me now, and it's probably because the voyage through the ever changing and evolving space we call social media has been a journey of trial and error, big success and utter failure. My work and the people who followed, listened to and supported me have shaped and reshaped the person I am and the vision i have for myself in the future. I feel so fortunate to have connected with so many people, many of which I have never met but nonetheless are important to my life. 

With that said, there was a time (a little over a year ago) where I just about gave up on Twitter. It just became too unmanageable, time consuming and just plain noisy. The new followers were so hard to sift through because of the influx of crafty spammers, marketers and brands. For those who were watching, I was getting popular and gaining influence, but it seemed so false to me, because more followers didn't mean better relationships or experiences. [CONTINUED...]

The Top Foursquare User List

I discovered from a post on Techcrunch today that I am ranked #8 on the newly released Top Foursquare User list by Osnapz. When I saw that I was within the top 10 "most friended" users on on Foursquare I was definitely surprised because Foursquare to date hasn't provided friend count stats on user profiles. They measure and display a lot of other statistics on user profiles like number of check-in's, badges, mayorships, etc., but not friends. I was never sure why they didn't show a friend count on profiles, but I imagine it is because they wanted to encourage and reward users for their participation rather than popularity (which is what Twitter does by only displaying following and follower stats on user profiles rather than any kind of real engagement metric).

With that said, since I started on Foursquare I have had a few debates with other Foursquare users about the fact that I accept every Foursquare invite I receive, no matter if I know who they are or not. I always understood the argument against accepting friend requests from people you don't know. Foursquare is a platform for users to inform their friends where they are hanging out and compete with each other for the most number badges, which signifies who is the most adventurous out of the group.

Although I respect why most people restrict their Foursquare network to real life friends, I've always looked at it differently. I like to use Foursquare when I am out socializing and crusin' around NYC as a way to help me connect in real life, with both the people I know very well, and people I don't know well at all (yet). When investing so much time into digital relationships, it's a unique opportunity to be able to tell my close friends where I am at, and at the same time unexpectedly meet others that I likely would have never connected or had a real life conversation with. 

Also, as Foursquare expands to more cities and countries, the opportunity when traveling to meetup with and learn from your Foursquare friends who live there can make an unknown city a friendly, local experience. As soon as you switch cities on Foursquare, you can see what the locals are doing and where the most checked-in hangouts are.

I've had lots of people tell me that sharing my location publicly, with people that are practically strangers, is weird and creepy. But they also said similar things about Twitter in the beginning, and look what Twitter has done to change the way millions of people connect, communicate and learn from each other. And although at first it feels awkward, there is nothing better than turning a stranger into a friend.

American Express Twitter Case Study

I was one of the lucky attendees at the American Express sold-out Jon Bon Jovi unplugged exclusive cardmember show last night. American Express was nice enough to extend a ticket to me last minute and after hearing how they sold the rest of the tickets, I was inspired and impressed.

The first and only link to purchase tickets was posted exclusively on the @AmericanExpress Twitter account and they were able to sell out the show 1 day. The tickets were $50 with all proceeds benefiting City Harvest via the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation.

Everyone in the audience (roughly 500 people) were tweeting, snapping TwitPic photos and spreading the word about the event while they were there. Excellent use of Twitter to promote and sell out an exclusive event, as well as spread the word about the brand. I had a blast and think American Express has created a great case study of how to offer something special to your fans and followers, donate to a great cause and create enthusiastic and positive conversation around your brand using the power of social networks. 

Bom Dia Brazil

A Brazilian journalist interning in NYC for the largest TV network in Latin America, GloboTV, reached out to me unexpectedly last week and asked if I would be interested in discussing my experiences with Twitter and Foursquare as it relates to establishing virtual, and real life friends. The best part of the whole thing is that my the interview is translated into Portuguese, and I can't help but how awesome it is. The segment aired yesterday on GloboTV's Bom Dia Brazil morning TV show, but you can watch the video below (my part is 1:35seconds in) and read the accompanying article in either Portuguese or translated into English. I bet you can guess how I found out yesterday that the segment had run earlier that morning in Brazil. Yup, a rare Brazilian tweetie bird flew all the way from Latin America to NYC to give me the good news. ;) 

When we discuss social networking and its ability to drive more real life networking, it's important to remember that the synergy between online and offline interaction is an essential component of what this whole social networking thing is ultimately about.  You have to get out there and give quality face time to make your digital relationships stronger. Meet more people and solidify your digital relationships into something more tangible and memorable.

My Big Announcement

I made a significant change in my professional career recently and wanted to take this opportunity to share some big news with everyone.  

I left my position at Undercurrent last month. Despite my departure, I have the utmost respect for Undercurrent. I am confident they will continue to do great things in the digital space. I am also incredibly grateful to have been able to work with such innovative thinkers and forward-thinking clients, giving me the opportunity to learn, grow, and become the digital diva I am today. I thank Undercurrent for the last two amazing years, and I look forward to the future in which I will apply the knowledge and skill I gained at Undercurrent to new challenges and opportunities.

Ok, now moving on to my big announcement. I recently joined Coach, Inc. in its nascent Global Web and Digital Media department, as Senior Manager of New Media. I am very excited to share this news with everyone, as I am elated to have the opportunity to work with a top- notch brand alongside the smart, driven, and motivated people at Coach. As I articulated in my previous post, the luxury fashion industry faces some significant challenges in regards to social media. Coach is ready to tackle those challenges, engage with their loyal fans, and create unique experiences online for their consumers, and I could not be more excited to help spearhead those initiatives.

The future is bright and surely fashionable. ;)

Follow Coach on Twitter, Join Coach on Facebook

Twitter Dressed Me Today

I had a very important meeting last week and I needed to go shopping for the perfect outfit. I was pretty stressed out about finding the right outfit, therefore everything I tried on I felt unsure about. What kind of "look" should I go for? Does this skirt match this top? And does this dress look as big on me as it feels? I wanted to make the right choice and so I decided to bring Twitter along for some expert follower advice.

While I was shopping I'd try on an outfit, snap a pic in the mirror and post it to Twitpic. I asked for everyone's help – should I go with Option #1, Option #2, Option #3, Option #3 with a different skirt or Option #4. I watched the responses and opinions come pouring in and in the end I chose the pieces that received the most positive feedback. Not only was it really helpful to get the advice of friends while I was still in the store, but it was a ton of fun too! I have to say, you can't argue with the real-time wisdom of the crowds.

And of course, after my meeting, I told everyone that Twitter dressed me today. That got a few chuckles and some confused faces.

Twittering Telluride

I had a wonderful time with my family in Mountain Village and Telluride, CO.  Having spent most of the summer in the hot and dirty New York City, getting out to Telluride was a real treat. The mountains, streams, waterfalls and clean air was a great escape from my normal digital, city life.

The coolest part was how Twitter made my stay an unexpected social networking experience. Once I arrived in Telluride I received an @ reply from two of my Tweeps @jberkowitz (Jim) and @telluridenow (Dennis and Nicole) welcoming me to their city. Because I was connected with them already via Twitter, I was able to meetup with them, get a real tour of the city, and hang with the locals. Without Twitter, this would have never happened. This proves that some of the relationships you nurture through Twitter, do really result in exiting real life encounters and experiences.

Check out the slideshow below. It includes rides on the Telluride Mountain Village Gondola, the city of Telluride, Bridal Veil Falls, Disc golf, trampoline bungee jumping, horseback riding, and overall mountain goodness.

Undercurrent's Social Media Survey

I encourage everyone who works in or around the field of "Social Media" to take this survey created by the agency I work for, Undercurrent. If you handle social media strategy, manage a social media team (internal or external), or conduct social media outreach on behalf of or within a brand, please take 10 minutes to complete the survey.

The objective is to gain a greater understanding of how social media is put in practice by agencies and clients, including: how objectives are defined, how results are measured, who is doing the work, the level of compensation, and what resources are most popular among practitioners.

It's important to get a wide variety of data, so please share and spread this survey. We'll keep the survey open during the month of August. We will be releasing a free report (probably Slideshare) on our findings, along with a free download of the full dataset. We're hoping that what we collect will be beneficial for the entire industry.

Please help us spread the survey by posting the bit.ly link (http://bit.ly/socialmediasurvey) across your social profiles and use the hashtag #smsurvey when tweeting.