BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - June 24, 2009) - uTest, the world's largest
software testing marketplace, today
announced the results of its Twitter Apps Bug Battle. More than 600
uTesters from 29 countries around the world competed in the quarterly
contest to find bugs in the top Twitter desktop apps. uTesters also ranked
the apps for overall quality, usability and feature set, with
Tweet Deck coming out on top,
followed closely by
Seesmic
Desktop and
Twhirl.
Over the course of one week in June, a total of 317 bugs were found across
five apps (see
report for details).
The uTest community classified 20 percent as "show stoppers," which are
defined as defects in need of immediate attention. The final Bug Battle
results include:
- Tweet Deck
- 77 bugs reported
- 13 percent classified as "showstoppers"
- 30 percent were Technical, 56 percent were Functional, and 14 percent
were GUI
- Seesmic Desktop
- 80 bugs reported
- 20 percent classified as "showstoppers"
- 31 percent were Technical, 50 percent were Functional, and 19 percent
were GUI
- Twhirl
- 61 bugs reported
- 16 percent classified as "showstoppers" and 33 percent as "high
severity"
- 44 percent were Technical, 38 percent were Functional, and 18 percent
were GUI
"
Twitter users skyrocketed from 1.6
to 32.1 million users this year," said uTest VP of Marketing, Matt Johnston
(
@matjohnston). "Since
filtering tweets is of top concern, sophisticated Twitter desktop apps are
also booming. With this Bug Battle, uTest has once again demonstrated how
quickly the tester community can mobilize and provide global testing
coverage for the most cutting-edge apps."
uTest also conducted a usability survey, asking professional testers to
compare the overall quality, usability, and feature set of the Twitter
desktop apps. The complete Bug Battle results are available at
http://www.utest.com/bugbattle/Q209/results. Some of the top-line findings
include:
- 66 percent of respondents rated both Tweet Deck and Seesmic Desktop as
either 'good' or 'very good' leading the way for overall quality.
- 72 percent of the testers gave Twhirl high rankings for usability.
- Testers with more than 3 years experience overwhelmingly favored Tweet
Deck across all categories.
Most valuable features across apps:
- Easy access to Twitter actions such as Retweet (RT), Favorite, Reply,
and Direct Message
- Filtering by groups, both multi-account and multi-column
management
- Column or tab support for multiple searches, including trend
searches
Most common complaints across apps:
- The location and grouping of the menu icons within the apps are not
intuitive to the functionality to which they are related. (50 percent of
respondents suggested adding a help menu or tool tips.)
- Applications consume too much memory (especially Tweet Deck) and
compromise performance.
The top tester of the uTest Bug Battle was Bernard Lelchuk of Israel, who
reported the most valuable bugs and provided the best testing feedback,
according to the uTest judges. Nearly $4000 in prize money was awarded to
those reporting best bugs and best feedback. Other top winners include:
Joseph Ours who received the Top US Tester award and Tyler Ritchie who
received the Top New Tester award.
uTest holds a Bug Battle each quarter, and is currently soliciting
recommendations for future Bug Battle subjects on its blog:
http://blog.utest.com.
About uTest, Inc.
uTest is the world's largest marketplace for software testing services. The
company provides real-world testing services through its community of
17,000+ professional testers from 152 countries around the world. More than
1,000 companies -- from web startups to global software leaders -- have
signed up for the uTest marketplace to get their web, desktop and mobile
applications tested. More information can be found at
http://www.utest.com.
Contact Information: Contact:
Jennifer Moebius
uTest, Inc.
http://www.twitter.com/utest
508-480-9999 x114
jenniferm@utest.com