- HootSuite
-
HootSuite 
URL hootsuite.com Commercial? Yes Type of site Social networking Registration Required Available language(s) English, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish[1] Launched December 2008 Alexa rank 341[2] Current status Online HootSuite is a social media communications dashboard often used for online brand management. It publishes to websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, MySpace, and WordPress. It is also a Twitter client.[3]
Contents
History
The service, created by Invoke Media, but later spun off as a separate entity, was founded in November 2008 and launched in December 2008. Version 2 of the client was released on July 31, 2009.[4] The iPhone version of HootSuite was released on December 9, 2009.[5] An Android OS version of the application also exists.[6]
Service
The service is commonly used to manage online brands and to submit messages to the Twitter microblogging service. Companies and organizations known to use HootSuite include Facebook, the Obama administration, the New Jersey Devils, Martha Stewart Media, SXSW, Zappos, The Gap, LHC[7] and Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia).[8][3] HootSuite provides a browser-based dashboard that allows users to keep updated on their Twitter account.[3] There are both full and lite versions of the service.[9] HootSuite uses the URL shortener ow.ly to shorten URLs submitted to its service.[10]
Business
The company behind the service is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and its chief executive officer is Ryan Holmes.[3] Regarding the company's business strategy, HootSuite plans to monetize its service by offering a freemium model, beginning in July 2010, which will allow users to continue using the service for free, but require that they pay for additional features beyond the basic service. As of June 2010, the service manages over one million social media accounts for 400,000 unique users.[11]
The company plans to monetize 3% to 5% of the service's most active accounts, which are generally owned by major brands such as Conde Nast, AOL, Banana Republic, and Dell. The HootSuite company was spun out of Invoke Media in January 2010 after venture capital firms Blumberg capital and Hearst Interactive Media raised $2 million in financing for the company. Localized versions of HootSuite are available in Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, and German, and 50 more languages are planned to be added.[11] HootSuite's team continues to contact media organizations to help them manage their online brands, by meeting with groups such as Time Inc. and its subsidiary magazines, including People, InStyle, and This Old House.[3]
Reception
The HootSuite software has won awards from Mashable at their Open Web Awards 2009,[12] the Canadian New Media Award,[13] the Shorty Awards,[14] and "Best Twitter app" from Australia's mX newspaper.[15]
Competition
HootSuite is competing in a marketplace for social media dashboard tools or platforms, where marketers are focused on social media management for their clients' web engagement activities [16]. The most well known competitors of HootSuite include TweetDeck and Seesmic. Each of the big three dashboards pursues innovation strategies that emulate the most recent feature enhancements of the other two; for example, TweetDeck launched with a desktop application based on the Adobe AIR platform, and eventually Seesmic rolled out its own Desktop version.
References
- ^ "Hoot in Spanish with Translated #HootSuite". http://blog.hootsuite.com/hootsuite-en-espanol/. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
- ^ "hootsuite.com". Alexa. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Keeping tabs on your brand". The National Post. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "Twitter Client HootSuite 2.0 Now Available". WebProNews. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "Announcing HootSuite for iPhone". HootSuite. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "Twitter-client innovation gives Tweetie some welcome competition". St. Paul Pioneer Press. March 7, 2010.
- ^ CERN twitter page
- ^ "HootSuite helps you manage your brand on Twitter (hey, it works for the White House)". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "140 Proof Powers Advertising for HootSuite's Android and iPhone Apps". Press release. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "Ow.ly and Ht.ly ~ Choose Bar or Non-bar URL Shortener for HootSuite". HootSuite. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ a b "HootSuite explains revenue generation strategy". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "OPEN WEB AWARDS 2009: The Winners". Mashable. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "HootSuite wins Canadian New Media Award and more". Invoke Media. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "HootSuite wins best app at Shorty Awards". HootSuite. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
- ^ "Another historic win for Obama". MX (Australia). December 17, 2009.
- ^ "Enterprise engagement management"
Further reading
External links
- Official website
- HootSuite at CrunchBase
Categories:- Internet properties established in 2008
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
