App: Hootsuite

by Matt on 24 January 2010

hootsuite.com It's a dashboard-style free web app for managing your social media accounts within a browser. No downloads. Dead easy.

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Pros

Owl aboard!

I’ve recently found myself recommending this handy little tool to all Twitter users and having converted so many new fans I figured I should probably write about it here.

It’s a dashboard enabling to see your timeline, @ replies, DMs etc in one glance and thus is initially most useful for people who have more than one Twitter account but you can also hook your Facebook (and Linked In) account to it. You choose what you want to send to which account on an update by update basis. Thus solving the problem of people who spray their tweets all over your Facebook feed as well.

Other dead handy functions are a built-in URL shortener (they’re all the rage); the ability to view stats on all the links you post; and the fact you can customise the layout to include things like tracking of searches. And you barely have to log in as it remembers and just loads up easily in your browser. Unlike something as heavy as Tweet Deck.

Oh and you can still retweet the old way! If you care about that kind of thing…

Cons

Fluffed

There’s not a lot to complain about here but the choice to have searches, user profiles and timelines all appear in pop-ups is a bit annoying. Especially when a users timeline appears as another window on top.

It could have been neater to click on a user and have them appear as another tab. This would also allow space for their ‘following’ and ‘followers’ lists to appear, which for now you have to login to the standard web Twitter to see.

Also, the Facebook tab could do with columns for your profile and notifications. But hopefully these things are coming as they seem to keep iterating and improving.