I recently started a private blog, writing about things involved with running Software Testing Club and working towards my personal aims of running a flexible and sustainable business.  The highs, the lows, nitty gritty details that I normally wouldn’t write about online.  Perhaps an odd bit of Rosie humour in there too!

It’s not something I will publish immediately, but hopefully within the next year or two there will be enough information there to make it somewhat interesting.

Keep me motivated by registering your interest over on LeanPub - http://leanpub.com/rosiesherry

For Software Testing Club stuff I use MailChimp.  And the Chimp is so lovely, almost makes my heart melt.  I wish I had one of my own!

But seriously, in a non-serious kind of way it’s like I have been building up this relationship with a non existing chimp.  Everytime I login into MailChimp (sometimes daily), I get a greeting like one of these:

I mean, how could you not develop a bond with something like this?  I am always interested in what Mr MailChimp has to say, even when it is a really pointless and funny link to a YouTube video.

All of this messaging continues throughout their brand.  For example, when I send an email campaign they tell me how awesome I am and give me a ‘high five’. Or when new people sign up to our mailing list they say ‘Nice’.

Every time I use their software I end up smiling at one point or another.

I raised my first support question to them the other day (I had a problem with getting a form to appear on my website which is run on WordPress), and it’s probably not surprising because I am writing this blog post, but their response made me smile as well.

Here it is:

Their language made me happy. Their simple response made me happy. And of course a direct simple solution was there too.

But most of all, and I don’t know why it pleased me so much, but their customer support matches their online branding/ethos/thing-a-ma-jig.

I think this is cool.

For the record: I still love Twitter, but in 2012 I’m giving G+ more of my time.

Follow me @rosiesherry or add me to your Circle on Google+.

1. The search baby!

The search on Twitter winds me up to the moon and back.  It’s so frustratingly hard to find previous tweets.  This is not a problem with Google+.  Infact it’s quite the opposite.  If you do a search in G+ whilst thinking about the search in Twitter it actually makes you smile.  Well it did for me at least

2. It’s easier to comment

Sure, Twitter is simple to comment on or ‘talk with someone’. You just @ people, right? But that gets confusing.  If multiple tweets are happening, it’s hard to see who is replying to what.  I’ve just found myself saying ‘aaaarrrrghhh’ too many times.

G+ doesn’t have this problem.  A nice simple commenting system is in place. It works. It’s easy to read. It doesn’t waste my time!

3. It’s not about real time

Real time is too hard. Sure, for a while it was alright. But then many more interesting people joined Twitter. And I wanted to keep up with them all. I’d say things like ‘you’re cool, I’d like to follow you?’. But I couldn’t. I remembered I had a life and work to get on with. And even if I did end up following *you* I wouldn’t have the time to read the Tweets.

And then people say to me, ‘Yo sista. Did you not see my Tweet?’ And I’m like, ‘No sorry dude, I do apologise’.

G+ is about being current, but you don’t have to check it every 5 minutes.  It’s ok.  It’s like they understand that people have a life.

4. Keeping organised

Twitter just kind of grew and then came ways to help people organise the information flow.  As a result, no matter how many times I try to keep my lists up to date – I JUST CAN”T. Honest, I’ve tried. And tried, but it just ain’t happening. As a result it’s just a big pile of mess.  Being organised is essential for such a stream of data/info.

G+ on the other hand make you add someone to a circle to begin with.  This makes you make a conscious decision on how to organise your contacts from day one.  For me, this has worked wonders.

5. There’s no limit on what you can share

140 characters has long been the ‘success’ point of Twitter, but more recently I’ve found it being a real pain not being able to share more. I feel it is actually holding me back. Sure, people can share links, but I’m never quite sure what to expect when I click them. With G+ I can share anything, right there and then.  No need to click elsewhere. Winner.

Nope, this is not a new years resolution.  Just my ideas at this stage which are likely to adapt and evolve.

Blog more on Rosie Land

I’ve been a bit slack here for the past couple of years.  Part of it has been personal reasons. Other parts has been the ‘confusion in my head’ of who I am, what I do and therefore what should I write about.

I’ll probably blog on topics and challenges that I will be facing in the year to come – (lean) startups, business growth, community building and the social web.

Perhaps even software testing stuff too (!), but even this I’ve started to shift over to The Testing Planet website.  I am interested in lean startups and testing.  So hopefully will have some juicyness for that this coming year.

Software Testing Club

Blog more regularly on @testingclub blog – with a plan to update frequently and openly on progress we are making.  I’d really like to become more transparent and open with things we are doing.

I am also increasingly having more intimate conversations with people within @testingclub.  I plan to reach out more.  I have started this and am loving the feedback I am getting.  It is really helping develop our thoughts for moving Software Testing Club, Testing Planet and Minsitry of Testing forward.  Lots of this is via one to one email or a private Google Group we have set up.  If you are interested then drop me an email.

Twitter is cool, but…

I’ve had issues with Twitter for a while.  I find it too hard to keep up with all the good stuff and then even harder searching for stuff.  I will still be there, trying to keep up, but just feel like I can’t give it justice, haven’t done so really for the past year and a half.

I mentioned this in my last post.  This year my focus will be on blogging and on Google+.  Add me to your circle(s)!

Mama Sherry

In case you are interested in my personal life, you can follow me on Mama Sherry. Having a new addition to the family has really given me the incentive to start something more personal to help me remember and to help pass on to the kids.  I keep kidding myself that I’ll remember all these things that happen in life, but the reality is I don’t.

I’ve also started using Path for those things that I just can’t share online!

A great post (Robert Scoble would call it a blog post) about whether blogging is dead or not.

Both Facebook and Google+, this year, added the ability to do long-form writing inside a social network. I’d argue that’s causing a new age of blogging: one that is free of commercial concerns. How many of you have clicked on a link to read a news article, or a long opinion piece, and found it hidden behind an ad, or, worse, split up into little pages so you gotta click “next” just to read the next few paragraphs. Both of those behaviors are because the business model for content developers is so dismal that we gotta do very anti-reader things just to make a buck.

I’ve definitely noticed a trend in the past couple of years. It is getting harder and harder to drive traffic to websites.  A tweet a year ago carried much more value than the same tweet does today.

I’m constantly reviewing traffic that I drive to @testingclub.  In the early days LinkedIn was great. Then that faded a bit and along came Twitter.  Now that is fading. Facebook is picking up  a bit in that sense.  Perhaps the next focus should be G+.

I know from a personal level I’m get frustrated at the very ‘temporary’ nature of Twitter.  If you don’t keep up with it you lose out.  Following conversations is a nightmare too. It’s gotten to the stage where I’ve mostly given up trying to keep on top of Twitter.

And then some people say ‘that’s the way Twitter is, you don’t need to consume everything’. And yes *I* know that, but it would still make my life much easier if Twitter was more searchable and conversations easier to keep track of.

And, oh, it really gripes me when people say, ‘oh, you didn’t know? Well, I posted it on Twitter.’ Sigh.

I like the long form of social media that G+ provides. I just need to make a habit of it and make it more part of my day.

Maybe some more of my *friends* will join me

I’m not giving up my blog btw – as much as a pain it might be, I will need to keep sharing stuff I do and create via my blog and whatever social network  or solution works best at that given moment.

I’ve taken up using Instagram alot.

Jamie Oliver kept cropping up as a recommended user. I like what he does, so I followed him. Then I noticed that each of his photos gets a stupid amount of ‘likes’ each time.  I wondered how many followers he had, but it appears Instagram is a bit confused.

Interesting article on Forbes asking whether Education will be the next industry to be killed by the internet.

Some valid points are highlighted on how things are changing with the likes of MIT and London School of Economics offering (or planning on offering) online content, education, discussions, certificates, etc and all free or at a much lower price as the more traditional/current/standard face to face education that costs a fortune.

Will education industry be killed? I don’t think so. What the article describes is the industry not being killed, but merely adapting and changing with the times. The music industry hasn’t been killed, it’s adapting.

Will the education industry feel pain? Probably yes, just like the publishing and music industry are.

Online stuff breaks down barriers, but face to face opportunities should not be forgotten about. Sure they can be reduced, but the value of meeting up face to face is immense.

I relate it to myself. I’m a self starter. Self learner. I work mostly virtually. I learn mostly virtually. But I still love and gain alot from going out to events, meeting people, coworking, etc.

The internetz and the people need each other.

Would be great to see more of this in the UK. Coding For Kids is making some community progress with this.

If you go to seek advice from the ‘experts’ about building a community, they will probably reel off a list of buzzwords and necessities. Oh, you must have a ________.

Fill in the blank space with social network / blog / Twitter / ecommerce / marketing plan / advertising / PR / business plan / events / content / competitions / people / a physical space.

It’s pretty easy to knock a few of the above together.

Of course none of the above makes a community. The actual community part is somewhat intangible. It’s a common understanding. It’s an ethos. It’s a shared goal. A shared interest. It’s about people and relationships. And trust.

This part is much harder. It’s not as easy. Takes time. And can be sensitive and fragile if not treated with respect.

If I relate this to Software Testing Club. It is our ethos and approach which has really made the community a success. It’s not the tools, though I would be lying if they hadn’t helped.

People know we are genuine about supporting the software testing community. They know we strive to produce the best. They (hopefully!) know we are impartial about our craft. They know they can come to us wherever we are and get a professional response. They know boring is not part of our vocabulary.

Software Testing Club as a social network is the main hub of activity, but increasingly we support things elsewhere. Our LinkedIn group is somewhat busy and doesn’t tolerate the spam that most LinkedIn groups suffer from. We are active on Facebook too. Our Meetups spread our philosophy too. We monitor discussions and participate on the likes of Twitter where possible. The Testing Planet is increasingly communicating and connecting with new people.

If our main network was ever shut off, I would like to think that the STC ethos would still prosper without it.

I got an email marketing message the other day.  It was from a kids ‘educational’ games website that my boys are signed up to.  We’ve been signed up for a few months and I think this is probably the first marketing email we’ve had from them.

It started out saying:

“Dear xxxxxxx”

Where ‘xxxxxxx’ was my password for the website.

I couldn’t quite believe it.

What makes it worse, is that the email reminded me of my username and password.  Another big fail.

And all of this through an email marketing service provider (MailChimp) who also probably has access to the full list of usernames and passwords too.

Totally not cool.  That’s enough for me not to renew the annual fee.