As you may know, SmartyPig users have the option to securely connect their existing Twitter and/or Facebook account to goals that they have chosen to share with friends and family. When Twitter is connected to a shared SmartyPig goal, SmartyPig will automatically post to that Twitter account any time funds are added toward meeting that goal. The Facebook connect feature works similarly, posting to the Facebook user's wall every time funds are added toward meeting a goal that he or she has chosen to share.

Twitter

Facebook

The best part about this connectivity is that the posts and tweets happen automatically. So even if you are not logged in to your SmartyPig, Twitter or Facebook account, SmartyPig will continue to post tweets and wall posts on your behalf when funds have been added to your goal.

Even better, you now have the ability to designate the specific time at which you would like SmartyPig to post to your Twitter and/or Facebook account for your recurring scheduled contributions. Are your friends more active in the morning? Would you prefer to send information at night? The choice is yours! Share your dreams and aspirations with your social network. Chances are you'll get encouragement and possibly a little cash from friends or family members who want to help you on your way!

As always, good luck with your goals!

Mike Ferrari, SmartyPig co-founder
@mferrari

Here are the winners! If you see your name listed below, please send an email to contests@smartypig.com with your twitter username, first and last name and shipping address to where we can send you your $25 gift card.

1. Splendor: @SmartyPig I save by biking to work.
2. dsmisnotboring: Well, I use @smartypig to save $$.
3. cahnimeals: @smartypig I save at smarty pig !!!
4. dopeymouse05: @smartypig I save by using coupons!
5. kmevaul: @smartypig coupon clipping!
6. ggadventures: @SmartyPig I work at the local running store on the weekends to get reduced costs on my favorite hobby!
7. twigglesMG: @smartypig I save at least 5% of my earnings each week.
8. amberweinberg: @SmartyPig I use smartypig to put 20% of freelance pay I get!
9. Raggys: @SmartyPig I never eat out w/o using a restaurant.com coupon
10. rxt403: @smartypig I always try to save $5 bills that I come across for a stash of emergency cash! Thanks!
11. rbittmann: @SmartyPig I bring my lunch to work!
12. brettlhart: @SmartyPig eat out less and bring a lunch
13. amandamorrow: @SmartyPig Coupons!!
14. grantkimm: @SmartyPig I eat at my desk to save $
15. XineSoundclash: @smartypig I get my textbooks from Amazon for wayyyy cheaper!
16. dyanysus1116: @SmartyPig put my change in an empty coffee tin then put it in savings. it adds up!
17. KateLWilson: @SmartyPig I pay myself first! Money comes out on the 2nd and 15th of every month into my savings acct and IRA!
18. CaseyG2782: @smartypig saving for vacation!!!
19. jmpedron: @smartpig i save using smartypig
20. lisaboldini: @smartypig I turn down the heat!
    

Thanks to everyone who played today! Never know when the next one will be!

Mike Ferrari, co-founder
@mferrari

We had about 180 answers, randomized to the top 20 and picked 3 winners:

Congrats to our winners: @natalietejeda, @jojoG522, @jackjohnson41

Thanks to everyone who played and good luck in next month's contest. Just so you know, here are the top 20: artificialrobot, wmharp, JenniferRyther, B_PhotoStudio, mikesum32, havana@ (Facebook), Juan_Medina@ (Facebook), AngelaDRC, dcmassar@ (Facebook), XineSoundclas, AdaliaDavis, RoboJenny, lvmuir@ (Facebook), j_hollender, jmccarthy300, parterburn, tanyahkeith@ (Facebook)

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll use an old favorite to help in selecting three gift card winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter or are a fan on Facebook
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Thursday, April 29 at 11am CST.
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!
4. If you are answering via Facebook, you will need to email us the answer (email to be provided at contest time) within the 15 minute time frame.

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

For the second contest of the month, we asked 'When does interest on a SmartyPig account begin to accrue?' The answer is: Interest begins to accrue once the funds have been received by SmartyPig and have posted to your account. This means that SmartyPig has collected the funds and West Bank has full use of said funds. For your security, funds may take up to 2-business banking days to post to your account.

Of course, we accepted all sorts of variations of that answer for almost 200 correct answers into the pool! We randomized our list to 16 and picked the 4 $100 SmartyPig gift card winners:

You'll know the top 16 by watching the video! Thank you to everyone for playing and good luck next month!

Congrats to our winners: @chriswoods85, @kidzmatter2me, @AlixLogan, @QuestionXisting!

To kick things off for the first contest this month, we asked 'What was the title of the session SmartyPig participated in at SXSW? The answer - Banking 2.0: Financial Services Driven by People & Emerging Technologies (we also accepted the short version - Banking 2.0).

Between Twitter and Facebook, we had over 150 players, randomized our list to 16 and picked the 4 $100 SmartyPig gift card winners:

You'll know the top 16 by watching the video! Thank you to everyone for playing and good luck in the contest on March 30!

Congrats to our winners: @tcita, @hangontomato, jimpryde@ (Facebook winner) and @markevaul!

SmartyPig will be giving away not just three, but FOUR $100 gift cards through our monthly Twitter contest, TWICE:

1. Thursday, March 18 at 11am CST. We will tweet a question and give our followers 15 minutes to reply for a chance to win.

2. Tuesday, March 30 at 11am CST. Same format as above!

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 16 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll use an old favorite to help in selecting three gift card winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter or are a fan on Facebook.
   
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Thursday, March 18 AND Tuesday, March 30 at 11am CST.
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!
4. If you are answering via Facebook, you will need to email us the answer (email to be provided at contest time) within the 15 minute time frame.

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

We had over 170 players, randomized our list to 20 and picked the 3 $100 SmartyPig gift card winners:

The top 20 were: leslieberg, ChrisSnider, Shawk63, TeenOnDaRise, lisa4321, 44ounce, j_hollender, Samwar, twigglesMG, tcita, PsycDragon, joshbyers, janedane7, amandamorrow, dyanysus1116, jkeeney and jonconley.

Congrats to our winners: BriefThis (love the name), richharms, q2mobile - enjoy your $100!

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll use an old favorite to help in selecting three gift card winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter.
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Thursday, January 28 at 11am CST.
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

Here is a full list of our retail/travel partners (we've added many).

We had over 130 players, randomized our list to 20 and picked the 3 $100 SmartyPig gift card winners by throwing snowballs:

The top 20 were: Clarabela, wmharp, snooptoddd, LadiiRomance, jbrowning, centrachad, RendaInDSM, stevecramer, LynnKB24, violetnell, acousticdryad, CaseyG2782, yestismedoug, flysupes, 3L4Iowa, veddemeg, jessc098. Thank you for playing and good luck next time!

Congrats to our winners: @who8myMnMs, @Etnalla and @rcooper - enjoy your $100!

Tweet! Tweet! Let the savings begin! SmartyPig will be giving away three $100 gift cards through our monthly Twitter contest - Tuesday, December 22nd at 11 CST. We will tweet a question and give our followers 15 minutes to reply to us.

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll use an old favorite to help in selecting three gift card winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter.
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Tuesday, December 22nd at 11am CST.
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

Since it's almost Thanksgiving, we decided to hunt some turkeys for our 3 $100 gift card winners:

Congratulations TheOneTruePax, wigstheone, and stlcolleen! Please DM us your address via Twitter, so we may send your $100 SmartyPig gift cards!

Thanks for everyone who played and good luck next month. Here are those that made it into the top 20: animeclubmusic, parterburn, brianf80, Debonair1, RealBernieAdams, molliesc, markevaul, artificialrobot, schippers, rcooper, sweetjean, veddebra, ericos, d_skaggs, twigglesMG, jamsmac and ronymirzaians76.

Facebook and Twitter Integration

New features introduced today expand on SmartyPig's existing social media functionality and are a first in the banking industry! SmartyPig users now have the option to securely connect their existing Twitter and/or Facebook account to any goals that they have chosen to share with friends and family. When Twitter is connected to a shared SmartyPig goal, SmartyPig will automatically post to that Twitter account any time funds are added towards meeting a goal. The Facebook connect feature works similarly, posting to the Facebook user's wall every time funds are added towards meeting a goal that they have chosen to share. The best part about this connectivity is that the posts and tweets happen automatically. So even if you are not logged in to your SmartyPig, Twitter or Facebook account, SmartyPig will continue to post tweets and wall posts on your behalf when funds have been added to your goal. Again, this type of connectivity is a first in the banking space so we are really excited to get your feedback. Check out the screen shots below from my own personal account! Connecting to your Facebook or Twitter account is simple. Here's the Facebook and Twitter connect pages.

Once connected, the page expands and you can now select the goals you would like SmartyPig to post/tweet on your behalf. In addition, you can include a link to your SmartyPig sharing page, so friends and family can easily contribute to your goal!

And here is an example of what a tweet and wall post looks like to your friends and followers, anytime funds are added to your goal (via recurring monthly contribution, one-time adds of money and gifts from family and friends).

Enhanced Widget

Second, we heard loud and clear that you wanted more customizable options for the widget so we completely enhanced the widget creation process. As of today, we launched an entirely new customizable widget that allows you to include multiple goals, customize messaging and graphics, link to your SmartyPig sharing page and integrate with over 28 social destinations like Facebook, MySpace, blogger and more. Here is the widget creation page:

And here is a sample widget:

Setting and achieving a goal is a very empowering experience and many of you enjoy involving your friends and family in the process. Please test run the new Facebook and Twitter connect features and enhanced widget and let us know what you think.

Thanks!

Mike Ferrari, co-founder
@mferrari

Thanks to everyone for playing this week. It's been a lot of fun. After 15 minutes of play and over 100 answers, we've got our winners!

The question was:
The Iowa State Fair was cancelled in 1898 due to the World's Fair which occurred in what state?

And the answer:
Nebraska

And the winners are...

• @danielshipton
• @richdrake
• @dwcouch
  

Congrats to the winners! Winners please send an email to support@smartypig.com with your shipping address to where we can ship the gift card.

Thanks again and have a great weekend!

It's day five and our LAST DAY of the weeklong twitter contest in honor of the world famous Iowa State Fair!

SmartyPig is giving away 3 - $100 gift cards every day this week in honor of the world famous Iowa State Fair (Home of the Butter Cow, birthplace of the corn dog - and only a cow chip toss away from SmartyPig's corporate offices!). We will tweet a question and give our followers 15 minutes to reply to us.

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 3 random winners with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll post the winners here on our blog.

Make sure:

• You're following us on Twitter.
• We'll ask the $100 question everyday this week at 3 pm CST.
• Answer the question correctly for your chance to win part of $1,500 in prizes!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

After 15 minutes of play and over 120 correct answers, we've got our winners!

The question was:
What was the hottest temperature recorded at the Iowa State Fair?

And the answer:
108 degrees

And the winners are...

• @44ounce
• @cc500x
• @mel4him
  

Congrats to the winners! Winners please send an email to support@smartypig.com with your shipping address to where we can ship the gift card.

For those that did not win, don't forget to play along EACH DAY this week at 3PM CST for your chance at a $100 SmartyPig gift card!

It's day four of the weeklong twitter contest in honor of the world famous Iowa State Fair!

SmartyPig is giving away 3 - $100 gift cards every day this week in honor of the world famous Iowa State Fair (Home of the Butter Cow, birthplace of the corn dog - and only a cow chip toss away from SmartyPig's corporate offices!). We will tweet a question and give our followers 15 minutes to reply to us.

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 3 random winners with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll post the winners here on our blog.

Make sure:

• You're following us on Twitter.
• We'll ask the $100 question everyday this week at 3 pm CST.
• Answer the question correctly for your chance to win part of $1,500 in prizes!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

After 15 minutes of play and over 100 correct answers, we've got our winners!

The question was:
What was the exact weight of Freight Train, winner of the "big boar contest" last year at the Iowa State Fair?

And the answer:
1259 lbs (or pounds, actually we accepted anything that said "1259")

And the winners are...

• @abs896
  
• @Ein2015
• @chriswoods85
  

Congrats to the winners! Winners please send an email to support@smartypig.com with your shipping address to where we can ship the gift card.

For those that did not win, don't forget to play along EACH DAY this week at 3PM CST for your chance at a $100 SmartyPig gift card!

Over 150 people responded with the correct answer. We used a great summer method to get the final 3 $100 winners:

Congratulations huied, krotondo and crowbert! Please DM us your address via Twitter, so we may send your $100 SmartyPig gift cards!

Thanks for everyone who played and good luck next month. Here are those that made it into the top 20: joeslacker, chasehunter, kidzmatter2me, BeverlyDennis, kristenbyers, gaiku, calvinlarsen, discDAY, KCutright, AaronRoth, Josh9002, nelswadycki, oski97, jeremyfrank, tardyon, aliat, danielshipton.

A couple of veteran players won $100 today, so it pays off to play every month.

Here are the winners:

Congratulations to CUWarrior, Peteness and PhilKJames!

Here are those that made it into the top 20 - thank you for playing and better luck next time! glangley, dawithers, Nicole_1984, ggadventures, davereid, monsterfashion, AdMavericks, 77motivated, ArturoFernandez, rubx, abkadefgee, JenniPullen, LouLou197533, wcdel, casademora, tifferh07, rself.

We have been seeing a lot of new players the past two months and this month was no exception, thanks to everyone for playing!

Here are the winners:

Congratulations to ebranscombe, netcrusher88, markevaul!

Here are those that made it into the top 20 - thank you for playing and better luck next time! ilektrik, CatRocketship, BeverlyDennis, cmebane, swalbers, jessc098, stlcolleen, aaron116, mcnater, PhilKJames, spakys1stp, DwanesWorld, igdesign, wcdel, trenttsd, amoeba09, ashleymc.

Congratulations to infocuspartners, JenniferRyther, and MIphotography! Please make sure to DM us your address via Twitter so we can send your $100 SmartyPig gift card!

Here are those that made it into the top 20 - thank you for playing and better luck next time! thirtynholding, gretchasketch22, egglng, lisa_lewis, merrylake, lynndro, afalker, RitaYangLu, urvile, jessc098, nelswadycki, bagmomma, kateschneider, sweetjean, AmandaZinger, joshgroth, chasehunter.

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll be bringing back a trusted method in selecting three gift card winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter.
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Thursday, April 23rd at 11am CST.
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll be bringing back a trusted method in selecting three gift card winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter.
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Friday, March 27th at 11am CST.
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll be bringing back a trusted method in selecting three gift card winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter.
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Friday, February 20th at 11am CST.
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!