src=”https://buffer.com/resources/content/images/2023/07/Header-for-Open-Beta-Blog.png” alt=”The Results of Buffer’s Build Week: Introducing our Open Beta Program and new Transparent Roadmap (+16 More Projects)”>
The entire Buffer team took part in an unconventional activity for a week during July of this year.
We all paused the work we do every day, cleaned our calendars and dedicated an entire week to projects that were outside our normal tasks.
Buffer’s Build Week is back!
Why did we do that? We believe at Buffer that some of the best ideas come from working outside the traditional work structure.
We have always been an open-minded company that is not afraid to try out new work styles. We’ve experimented with OKRs and embraced self management. It’s actually not our first Build Week. We had our inaugural Build Week last summer and created 10 new features.
Build Week in 2019: How to organize it
Bufferoos from across the company submitted ideas for Build Week two weeks prior. Everyone can submit ideas, but it is important to remember that we only have four days to implement them. Ideas ranged from minor improvements to new landing pages.
Then, we divided into 19 teams of four to six people each, to give these ideas life.
We kept everyone informed of our progress throughout the week. The #build-week Slack chat channel was a hive of Loom videos, prototypes and team showcases.
We had 80 team members and four days of dedicated work.
Announcing the New Open Beta Program with Feedback Hub
We wondered how we could get the community involved with so many new projects.
Several of the projects were not 100 percent complete and could benefit greatly from user feedback and testing. We needed to find a way to empower users to provide feedback on Buffer’s future and give them early access.
Two new Buffer tools have been added to the Buffer product to allow our community to shape it.
Open Beta
Buffer users now have the ability to access new features and contribute to shaping Buffer’s future by simply switching a switch. The Beta Features page includes a list of features to be tested, links for sharing feedback, and an invitation to our community. We would love to have you there!
2 Buffer Suggestions
Buffer Suggestions, our new feedback hub allows you to submit feature ideas, vote for existing ideas and track our progress.
The existing suggestions are sorted based on the number of upvotes. This means that the most popular suggestions appear at the top.
Switching to the Roadmap View will show you our current roadmap. This view sorts suggestions into kanban style columns. This view also allows you to comment, vote or subscribe on a particular post.
Build Week: A Complete List
We have worked on 16 projects, many of which are already live.
The projects that we worked on were divided into three broad categories
- New Buffer features
- Community Improvements
- Culture Projects
New Buffer features
Schedule Facebook Reels
Facebook is still the largest social network in the world. It’s used by 36 percent of global users each month. Facebook Reels is one of the fastest-growing content types available on the platform.
Every month, 140 billion Reels get viewed. This is a great place to share your message. Buffer’s new Facebook Reels scheduling feature allows you to reach millions – if not even billions – of people on the world’s biggest social network.
Available as beta
Mastodon analytics
In your queue of sent posts, you can see how many Mastodon shares, comments and favorites there are. Check out which posts are popular on Mastodon to adapt your content strategy.
Available as beta
Collect Email Addresses using the Start Page
A list of email addresses is the best and safest marketing strategy for small businesses. This gives you more control and a better connection to your audience than social media. Start Page now integrates Mailchimp, allowing you to collect email addresses from your visitors and create a mailing list directly on your website.
Coming Soon
Add notes for yourself or your team
Have you ever wanted to leave yourself or your team a message? With Notes, you can now brainstorm and collaborate on your drafts.
Coming Soon
Navigate Buffer in half the time
With the new Quick Navigator you can jump directly to your favorite channels or pages by simply pressing your keyboard. CMD + K for Mac or CTRL +K on Windows will open the Quick Navigator.
Available as beta
Upload HEIC Images
You can now upload HEIC files to Buffer. You don’t have to convert your iPhone photos into jpegs anymore!
Community Improvements
Reward your friends for referring them
We’ve received many questions about an affiliate or referral program from our most enthusiastic community members. We are excited to announce that Buffer users now have access to a simple code they can use to refer friends or clients. We would like to provide an incentive, but aren’t certain what it should be. We’d love to hear from you if you’re a teacher, influencer or agency who often refers people to Buffer.
Have a look at the new site we are building.
Flag suspicious Start Pages
We occasionally see people using Start Page as a platform to host content in violation of our Terms of Service. It could be content such as false or misleading content presented as the truth, hate speech or abusive or harmful material, astroturfing or spam. Anyone can now report suspicious websites.
Available Here.
Quick Wins for Customers
We had a Build Week team that was dedicated to the small items our customers requested in the last year. Even though each item is small, adding them all up makes a huge improvement in the Buffer user experience. Here are some “quick wins”.
- Instagram Reels’ scheduling is enabled by default with the “Share to Feed” toggle.
- Tooltips with more accurate analytics data.
- You can view published posts natively by clicking on the links.
- Post summary data now includes reel impressions.
- LinkedIn analytics are now sorted according to date.
- You will receive a clearer warning if you go over the character limit for a tweet.
Accessibility for all users
Buffer’s goal is to make our product accessible for everyone, regardless of their ability or circumstance. Build Week gives us the opportunity to improve areas of our product. We started the week with 49 accessibility-related issues to fix, and ended the week with only seven left. We made improvements to:
- Improved navigation in the sidebar, profile sidebar.
- Listening to the keyboard event in select component.
- Add alt tags to your images.
- Add ARIA Labels to Modals.
- Close the composer by pressing the ESC key.
- We use semantic elements to remove unnecessary ARIA attributes.
We will continue to work on the remaining items of accessibility throughout the remainder of the year.
Culture Projects
Learn more about us! Discover our values, mission and journey
Buffer has updated its About Us page with more information about the company’s mission and values. The old page had outdated information and images. Buffer has evolved over the years, and this new update includes not only fresh content but also a timeline that highlights its evolution.
Coming Soon
What happens to your money when you purchase a Buffer subscription
Buffer is committed to transparency. We’ve always been open about everything, whether it was our salaries, the hiring process or revenue. We’re now extending our transparency to pricing.
Our goal has always been to give you a clear view of the way your investment in Buffer was being used. This new Transparent Pricing Page explains how each dollar that you give us is allocated. No hidden costs, no surprises!
Coming Soon
Get some Buffer merchandise to show off your love for the Buffer!
We’ve got the coolest Buffer merchandise for you! Our brand-new Buffer Swag Shop is filled with an amazing collection of Buffer merchandise. This novelty is only available to the Buffer family for now. But stay tuned, we will soon be opening the doors so that everyone can show their Buffer pride!
Sneak a peek here:
No openings at Buffer? No problem!
Have you ever wanted to join the Buffer team but there are no open positions? We have the perfect solution for you. You can still apply to jobs through our Evergreen Hiring Page, even if there is no specific job listing.
The page will soon be live. Please do not hesitate to submit your application. We will review it every week. While we may not be able to respond immediately, rest assured that your information will be stored and used for future opportunities.
Here is the first talent pool.
A fun and interactive way to interact with our team
Buffer’s global team is cohesive, despite being 100% remote. Our annual retreats are a great way to meet face-to-face. We decided to bridge the gap by using digital tools, since it has been a long time since our last retreat.
Buffer Team Jeopardy is an interactive quiz that tests your team members’ knowledge. This is a great way to get to know your team and compete to be the top of the leaderboard. ).
Play this game –
A dedicated app for Bufferoos in retreat.
We’ve created a Buffer Retreat App to take our retreats up a notch. This app will help us to manage the event smoothly and keep everyone informed. We were able to reduce costs by building the app internally and also tailor it to our specific needs.
There’s more to come…
These are only the beginning. Other updates from Build Week will be released soon. Check out our Roadmap to see what we’re up to.
Now we’re wondering, what do you think? Have you tried a Build Week before? Did you see similar results? Tweet (or Xeet) us and let us know.
We’d love to know your ideas for the next Build Week! Send them here.
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