Top 10 Usability Testing Influencers to Follow on Twitter

Usability testing is always in flux: innovative test tools, new methodologies, new devices, new prototyping platforms, even whole new generations of users mean that the usability testing landscape is constantly shifting. That’s what makes it fun, right? But it can also be a challenge staying abreast of such a fluid field of expertise.

That’s where these 10 usability testing influencers come in handy. By following these experts on social media, testers will find at their fingertips industry updates, news, tips and techniques and a whole lot of usability testing debate. From Jared Spool’s sage advice on everything usability and UX related, through Susan Weinschenk’s considered research to Steve Krug’s news and event updates, these 10 usability testing influencers cover all the bases for test professionals keen to stay at the cutting edge of usability.

1. MeasuringU @MeasuringU

Jeff Sauro and the rest of the team behind MeasuringU curate a fine collection of usability and UX tweets, harvested both from the MeasuringU blog and other sources. You’ll find plenty in-depth research, links to real-world case studies and customer experience insights.

2. Jared Spool @jmspool

Everyone involved in UX and usability has heard of Jared Spool. Keynote speaker, author, founder at UIE and hilarious social media sharer, Jared runs a must-follow Twitter feed that condenses his 15 years of experience into 140 characters daily.

3. Patrick Neeman @usabilitycounts

The face of blog Usability Counts, ‘digital prophet’ Patrick Neeman is full of good advice and salty opinions, both of which he shares liberally on Twitter. Patrick discusses everything from usability testing with prototypes to the job market for UXers — it’s no surprise he has over 100,000 followers. Plus if you ever wanted to see ‘social media explained in donuts’, Patrick is your man.

4. Usability Hub @UsabilityHub

A light-hearted yet savvy look at usability from the team here at Usability Hub. They share articles that go to the heart of user testing methodology, as well as commentary from industry insiders, expert tips on usability testing and useful resources for usability testers of all stripes.

5. Nielsen Norman Group @NNgroup

The grandaddies of usability and UX, the NN Group team are a go-to reference for original research, guidance and thought on usability. You’ll get daily updates on Jakob Nielsen’s and Don Norman’s words of wisdom, compelling videos and event shares. Everything a user tester needs.

6. Steve Krug @skrug

The author of ‘Don’t Make me Think’ runs a great Twitter feed replete with UI design tips, thoughts on user behavior and industry updates. Steve also shares links from his blog Advanced Common Sense, which covers web usability.

7. Justin Mifsud @justinmifsud

Usability expert Justin is passionate about one thing above all — web usability. His blog, Usability Geek, focuses on bridging the gap between theory and practise in usability, and his Twitter feed is a mash-up of original content, musings on testing methodologies, interface geek stuff and UX articles.

8. Susan Weinschenk @thebrainlady

Susan, or ‘the brain lady’, is well known for her fascinating insight on usability as a behavioral scientist. As the author of a slew of UX/usability books and Founder of The Team W, Susan is well versed on combining brain science with product usability.

9. Tema Frank @temafrank

We love Tema Frank’s feed! Sharing actual usability errors and customer service clangers, Tema brings humor to serious usability. She’s an expert in understanding customers and actually founded the world’s first company to do “omnichannel” customer experience testing, Web Mystery Shoppers Inc (way back in 2001).

10. Luke Wroblewski @lukew

Granted, Luke Wroblewski is technically a product guy (Product Director at Google, no less); but that doesn’t stop him sharing awesome pearls of wisdom on UI usability. In addition to his revealing YouTube videos and blog posts, Luke runs a Twitter feed full of real life examples of the usability impact of design decisions.

This was a guest post from Justinmind.

Justinmind is a prototyping tool that allows you to prototype web and mobile apps so you can visualize and test your software solution before writing a single line of code.