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Android users, your day is here! Today, we’re thrilled to launch the official Formspring app for Android, available for free download in the Android Market. With the Formspring app you can respond to friends on the go, ask questions, and share photos to get your friends’ responses to just about anything, from anywhere.

The Android app allows you to take Formspring on the road and not miss out on any of the fun. All the actions you regularly do on the site are built in to the app, including asking, responding, smiling, adding a photo and following (both public and private). Beyond that, we’ve built in notifications, so you’ll know as soon as a new question, response, smile or follow comes in. And, we’ve made it super simple to find friends, since you can send questions to contacts on your phone who might not be on Formspring yet.

For those who don’t have an Android, iPhone or iPod Touch, there’s good news for you, too. Over the next few months we’ll be updating the mobile Web version of Formspring as well, updating the features available and making it much more fun to use.

The Android app is big news, but it’s not our only news; we’re also rolling out a new homepage in the coming days which gives newcomers a better picture of what’s actually happening on Formspring (Hint: To check it out for yourself, sign out of Formspring later this week or grab a sneak peek right here).

Yes, there are questions and responses, but there are also members meeting each other around interests, celebrities taking time to respond to their fans’ most pressing questions, and thousands of people building conversation around the question of the day. Along with the homepage redesign we’ve also refreshed our About section to make it easier to learn about Formspring, who we are, what we do, and what you can do on the site.

Going through high school has its challenging moments. Can you imagine going to class while pregnant and single watched by millions of viewers across the world? What started with a personal blog and led to being cast on MTV’s “16 and Pregnant,” is now a book; Ashley Salazar is sharing her story in a new memoir called Bittersweet Blessing which will be released January 24th. As a longtime Formspringer, we reached out to her to learn more about what her book is all about.

“I had always wanted to turn my blog into a published book and people all over started suggesting the idea. By writing this book I can share the hard truth on how it isn’t easy becoming pregnant at such a young age and how difficult dealing with physical and mental feelings can be when you haven’t even learned all about yourself yet,” Ashley said. “Hopefully people everywhere, especially young girls facing unplanned and teen pregnancies can see the reality and seriousness of [getting pregnant at a young age].”

The book takes readers back before MTV came into her life and forward to her life today as a college student. “Most of all, Bittersweet Blessing describes two sides of the spectrum, parenting and adoption, and how I had to face both,” she said.

During filming the show, she discovered Formspring and thought it was an interesting way to communicate and get to know others. Two years later she still uses it to reach out to people who are interested in her story.

“Direct communication with people has helped me get the word about my book, blog, and story out there in a more personal way. I can answer any questions about my story and especially questions about sex and contraception that they might be too afraid to ask! Most of all, it can be anonymous. What I love most about Formspring is being able to communicate with my followers on a more personal level and answer any questions that they might have had or been wondering about.”

Thanks to Ashley for sharing her story with Formspring! If you have questions about “16 & Pregnant”, Bittersweet Blessing or what Ashley is up to now, head to her Formspring page. Bittersweet Blessing is available anywhere books are sold online and major retail book stores. When you live through challenges like Ashley has, do you share your experience with others?

Whether it’s a new question, a smile milestone you’ve hit, or a favorite band that’s following you, we know you want to be notified. Over the next few days, we’re rolling out two improved ways to keep you in the know about what’s going on in your Formspring account.

First, we’re adding a web notification alert to our top navigation bar. This alert will light up anytime someone smiles your response, responds to your question, or when there’s important news that’s directly relevant to you. When you click on a notification, it’ll take you directly to the corresponding response or content. We also keep a record of the last 100 notifications, so you can go back and review older notifications. If you like relying on emails to tell you about smiles or responses, you can continue to do so, but for those Formspringers that would rather find out what’s going on by signing in, you can now rely on the notification alert.

Second, we’ve updated the emails we send when you have questions waiting for a response. One of the most popular requests we get is to include the text of the question in the email we send you when there’s a new question in your inbox.  Moving forward, we’ll be doing just that.

In addition to including the text of the questions you receive in your email, we’ll also send you a daily summary of questions awaiting your response. Instead of getting notifications throughout the day, you’ll get one summary email that lists all the questions you’ve received in a 24 hour period. We know that when someone sends a question to you and only you, it’s one you’ll generally want to pay special attention to and respond right away. That’s why we’ll continue to send you an email if you receive a direct question.

The end result: Fewer emails combined with more content included in the emails we do send. We think that’s a winning combination.

Formspring is thrilled to be a sponsor and partner of The Great American NO BULL Challenge, a first-of-its-kind anti-bullying video contest and awards show. The Great American NO BULL Challenge gives teenagers the chance to compete for $25,000 in prizes and the opportunity to have their winning videos introduced to the world at the awards show. Following the contest, the NO BULL Teen Video Awards in July will shine the spotlight on teens from across the country who are standing up to cyberbullying.

How can Formspringers get involved and stand up to bullying? By filming their own video with a NO BULL theme (the makers of the first 150 videos submitted will receive a free goodie bag, too!). Videos can be uploaded on the NO BULL website and on the NO BULL Facebook page through March 14, 2012. If you have questions about creating a video, attending the awards show or anything else related to the NO BULL Challenge, you can ask them on the NO BULL Challenge Formspring. Once the contests ends, voting will then begin; 15 finalists will be the VIPs in attendance at the NO BULL Teen Video Awards show in San Francisco, July 21, 2012.

We can’t wait to see the videos that teens across the U.S. create to take a stand against bullying. As part of our partnership with the contest and awards show, we’ll be providing updates about submissions, finalists and other details, so stay tuned here and to our Formspring account for the latest info. May the best video win!

Remember that hilarious response you gave two months ago? The one that had tons of smiles on it?

If you’ve ever had trouble finding the most smiled-at responses to a question you’ve asked, or the best responses you or your friends have given in the past, then you can stop searching. Today we’re introducing a new feature that allows you to see your top smiled responses, check out top responses from other Formspringers, and even see the most smiled responses to a question you’ve asked multiple people at once.

To see the top-smiled responses to a question you or someone else has asked, click through to the “All Responses” page and click the “top smiled responses” option to see the most smiled responses instead of most recent ones. Similarly, click the “top smiled responses” option on your own profile or a friend’s Formspring page to see which responses made people smile the most.

If you’re interested in getting more smiles on your responses, one of the best things you can do is smile at responses you find interesting, funny or LOL-worthy. Let us know – what’s making you smile today?

Writing them down is one thing but it can be difficult to stick with your resolutions throughout the year. Whether it’s a small change (floss daily) or starting something big (read a book a week) it can be tough to keep a resolution post January 10th. Luckily there are talented Formspringers that can help you make sure you meet your goals.

Change up your style or create one: Fashion gurus Stephanie and Melissa of The Fashion Citizen shoot style videos corresponding to the time of year so you’re never out of style or out of budget. They also don’t sacrifice a lot of money for good looks.

Re-design your crib: Grace Bonney, founder of Design*Sponge, has a background in interior and home makeovers. She’s been featured on Good Morning America and The Martha Stewart Show. Why not snap a picture of your room and ask her for some tips?

Improve your photography: Capture 2012 in pictures! What’s a better way to remember places you visited, memorable food dishes or good times with friends than by snapping a picture? Talented photographers on Formspring who are happy to respond to questions from newbies include Jonas Peterson and Rosie Hardy.

Rosie Hardy takes risks with her images. What risks are you taking this year?

Increase your fitness and learn from the professionals: Houston Alexander has a background in Mixed Martial Arts and LA Fitness is a national sports club dedicated on educating people on nutrition and exercise.

Be positive: Share awesome responses on Formspring and get lots of smiles. This one is easy!

One feature that Formspring launched in 2011 was the Question of the Day. Each day, a new question shows up in your inbox. People around the globe respond every single day, sharing their thoughts on everything from bizarre dreams to favorite colors to holiday hopes.

There’s nothing a question on Formspring loves more than getting an awesome response. These five questions should be feeling pretty good right now, as they got more responses than any other questions on Formspring this year:

#5: Who is the most important person in the world to you?

#4: What song is stuck in your head right now?

#3: Have you cried during a movie?

#2: What would you do if you won the lottery?

And the top most responded to question, with 434,643 responses is:

#1: What’s the first thing you check when you turn on your computer?
(Uh, duh, Formspring).

What questions would you like to see us asking in 2012?

If you have a lot of followers, you’ll get a lot of smiles. That’s what would seem to make sense. Yet when we look at the Formspring accounts that received the most smiles in 2011, it wasn’t always the top most followed accounts that made people LOL the most. We’ll reveal who the most popular accounts are by follow count later this week, but today, we’re all about the top smiled accounts overall.

You’ll remember that we launched Smiles way back at the beginning of 2011. Since launch, millions smiles have been given out for silly, funny and touching Formspring responses.

So who got the most smiles this year? You might be surprised at the results:

#5: The Maine are an indie pop band currently on tour promoting their album Pioneer. The Maine drummer Pat Kirch — who goes by Micheal Christ on Formspring — has received 61,000 smiles on his Formspring account this year.

#4: Formspring’s Russian user-base is incredibly active, so it’s no surprise that a Russian account made 2011′s top list. What is surprising? The account is a parody account of the Russian capital, “Kermlin Russia.” Total smiles top out at 72,000.

#3: Longtime YouTube funnyman Destery Smith of “DesandNate” is our #3 most smiled at account. He makes people laugh, they smile back at him. Makes sense to us! Total smiles: 86,000

#2: Music lovers can already guess who the 2nd most smiled at Formspring account was this year — Odd Future frontman Tyler the Creator. Never one to shy away from controversy (or from insight into his creative process), he’s garnered 128,000 smiles this year.

And the top most smiled account is…

#1: Ramon Bautista is a Filipino rapper, actor, and director. His account was the top smiled account by almost 20,000 smiles this year. His final count as of blog-post-publishing time: 142,000

Keep responding and keep smiling. Who knows… next year maybe it will be you who claims a spot on this list!

Can you imagine what Formspring was like before you could “smile” responses? When we launched the Smile Button in January, we weren’t expecting to have more than one million smiles across the site within its first 24 hours. To help spread the love we launched the Smile Shuffle a few months later, which has proven to be quite contagious.

And for your smiling pleasure, here are the top five most smiled responses on Formspring this year:

3OH!3 gets snarky. Enrique Iglesias shows his love for Brazil. Taylor Lautner keeps his fans updated. Fred Figglehorn never fails.Sarah Lane has a sweet tooth for a subconscious!
It’s not a surprise that four of them are also among the four top followed Formspringers. Taylor Lautner has a total of 112,445 followers, 3OH!3 has 100,295 followers, Enrique Iglesias has 94,543 followers, Fred Figglehorn has 79,119 followers and BubbleGoth has 55,435 followers.

We hope these made you smile, too! Do you follow any of these accounts?

If you’ve spent some time on Formspring, you’ve probably thought to yourself at some point “I wonder who is following me?” Starting today, we’ll help answer that question.

Many of you have told us you want to know who is following you. And you similarly want to let people know when you’ve followed them. If you’re following this train of thought, then you can guess where we’re going – you can now choose how you follow someone, either publicly or privately.

Because we think the ability to publicly follow people on Formspring is a great addition to our service, we’re going to default this feature on for all users and give you an option to switch everyone you follow from private follow to public follow. We won’t change things for people you’re currently following (unless you tell us you’d like to), but moving forward the default setting on all accounts will be to follow publicly. Don’t worry if you don’t want this option by default; you can easily change back to always follow privately on your Settings page. It’s completely up to you.

So what happens if you choose to publicly follow someone? It’s pretty straightforward: we’ll send them an email letting them know that you are now following them. Your profile page will also display a list of who you’ve chosen to publicly follow on your profile page. And, you’ll also see who is publicly following you. Now when you send out a question to all followers, you’ll have a better sense of just who you’re sending your question to.

As part of this update, we’ll also start displaying follower counts on profiles. When you check out a friend’s profile, you’ll be able to see how many followers they have (the total number, both public and private), as well as who is publicly following them.

Since I know this is a big change for some Formspring members, I want to make sure it’s clear that this only changes how you can choose to follow someone. It doesn’t affect your ability to send a question to someone with your name hidden. And to be clear we will never reveal anything about who you’ve sent questions to in the past.

My hope is seeing who’s following you will allow you to get to the people who are responding to your questions a little better, and help all Formspringers create more fun and more meaningful conversations. Let me know what you think in the comments below or on my Formspring page.