When I first got started on Twitter, I used Buffer as my front end for tweets, and also for LinkedIn. My brief and unsatisfactory experience with Facebook was also done with Buffer, and I was fairly happy with the service.
However, without any warning, Buffer eliminated some features for the free plan, reserving them for premium users who are paying the $15 a month fee. I wrote to them and expressed some concern that suddenly features were missing. Apparently, they sent an email out to free plan users notifying them of the coming changes, which I never received. Buffer extended an official apology to me.
I felt at the time (and still do) that if you miscalculated and offered free services that would serve you better as an enticement to sign for the premium plans, it is a remarkably bad decision to eliminate those services. You miscalculated, so now the option is to brainstorm – “What carrot can we offer to get customers to sign for the premium service?” The decision to eliminate services can create permanent consequences and lessen your client base. It’s hard to go back from that.
I canceled my Buffer account at that time, and it took almost a month to go back. In the meantime, I signed with Hootsuite which at the time offered a better free plan – but without some of the functionality Buffer had. I now can schedule 30 messages where I was limited to ten with Buffer.
The autoschedule feature on Hootsuite made scheduling tweets and posts very easy and rapid. I could schedule tweets in 45 seconds per tweet, despite some glitches from its abysmal interface.
Recently, Hootsuite began pushing its new posting interface, which lacked the autoschedule feature. I tried it, and was dissatisfied. I left feedback letting Hootsuite know that one of the major reasons I was using Hootsuite was missing from the new interface.
To my surprise, Hootsuite ignored the feedback, and issued an announcement that they were eliminating the classic interface effective March 2019. I left several feedback notices letting them know the new interface was tripling the time it took to schedule a tweet. Finally, I contacted customer support, and voiced my concerns. I was reassured by email that the autoschedule was the last step of the new interface to be implemented. Once it was up and running, the new interface would replace the old one, and not before.
Then Hootsuite eliminated the old interface, without the autoschedule feature implemented. After almost two months, I’ve given up hoping Hootsuite would keep its word to its client base – a reputation I recently discovered Hootsuite has had for quite some time. Indeed, there apparently was a video Hootsuite made poking fun at customer complaints. Once it was discovered and added to several blogs criticizing Hootsuite, they hurriedly pulled the video.
A check on May 11 showed that indeed Hootsuite has re-added the classic interface again in a small, hard to notice spot – apparently, I’m not the only person upset about the lack of the autoschedule feature. What is incomprehensible is that the autoschedule feature has been deleted from the classic interface. So now if I want to use the classic interface instead of the new one, there’s no reason to – it’s still going to take just as long to do the scheduling of tweets and posts.
A recent check of Buffer showed me that they too have implemented a change in their interface – but one for the better. They’ve added empty slots with time markings on them – so if I want to schedule a particular series of tweets at the same time every day, I now can do that. The interface is MUCH faster than the Hootsuite interface.
As you can imagine, this speeds up scheduling tweets and posts remarkably. The only problem now is the limit of ten posts per day on the free plan, and the missing ability of re-tweeting previous tweets that did not do well on another time slot.
In addition, the Buffer service used to allow the interface with several third party analytic companies, who examined when your subscribers were online, and would tailor your best tweeting times. I hope this remains an option on the home premium plan of $15 a month.
If this kind of trend of innovation on Buffer’s part and indifference on Hootsuite’s part continues, Buffer will emerge the clear winner in the social platform wars, and Hootsuite may well end up out of business. As my platform increases, I probably will become a Buffer subscriber, and cancel my Hootsuite account.
What service do you use as a front end, and why?
