Introvert or extrovert? (or, How come no one shows up to UMCF happy hours?)

What would you guess is the personality type of a communicator? Probably extrovert, right? But there are many of us in varying job functions, from graphic design to PR. Let's see how it shakes out:

A poll on surveys

Thanks to Christina Frazier from the Office of Planning and Analysis for sharing lots of helpful information about U of M survey policy and tools on Wednesday. It was interesting to hear about planning for the new U survey tool. The event had me wondering how many people are currently using UMSurvey and other survey tools.

How does the Forum benefit you?

Average open rates for communications at the U

I received a question from the Forum's chair elect Kelly O'Brien, who recently began a new CLA newsletter for faculty, staff, and student workers (mostly grad students, I believe) as to what are the average open rates (unique opens) for regular email updates/newsletters here at the U. I told her that for Brief, the number varies between 20-25% and has seen 30% on some occasions.

Matt Sumera in University Relations gave me stats on some recent high-profile emails, and those seem to average unique open rates of around 18%.

An interesting analysis on open rates by list size can be found at open rates by size.

For those of you who track your open rates, where do you fare?

Poll: Web site or website?

I've been slow getting this poll up, so by now I'm sure you've all heard about the AP Stylebook's decision to change Web site to website.

Do you think they made the right decision? Please vote in the poll below!

*"Televisionshow" comment hat tip to @nprmonkeysee.

Poll: Did you make any New Year's resolutions?

Though New Year's resolutions may be doomed to failure,

many people use the new year to reassess and recommit. What about you?

Invasion of the pie charts

I thought it would be fun to revisit your responses to the Friday polls with the help of a few trusty pie charts (based on responses received up to last night). Enjoy these completely unscientific insights into the Forum membership.

Poll: Do you feel secure in your job?

Poll: How's your inbox looking?

Are you a searcher or a sorter? Does everything stay in your inbox, or do messages go to folders as soon as possible? I believe e-mail management to be an impressive talent. If you have a good method, leave it in the comments. In the meantime:

Poll: How do you get to work?

Poll: How many browser tabs do you have open?

I used to think I used a lot of tabs, but I've since met some truly epic tab users. So, no cheating:

Poll: Did you major in communications?

I love what I do. I get to shape messages and tell stories. I care deeply about finding just the right image for an article and scouring copy for typos. When I know I've written a great brochure header, I feel genuine joy.

That said, ten years ago I didn't image myself in this profession. As an English major, it wasn't a giant leap, but I imagine some of you came to this field from far more exotic majors.

Did you major in bassoon performance? Biology? Classical studies? Or were you already on a communications track as an undergrad? If you did not get an undergrad degree, I'm interested in that too. Vote in the poll and discuss in the comments.