HootSuite blog – Social Media Dashboard

During the past few weeks, Twitter has been hit hard by phishing scams, malware, and spam. The culprit? Shortened URLs that disguise nasty, suspicious links.

Well, enough is enough. As the screenshot below shows, HootSuite (and owl.y) are making it harder for bad guys to use our service for their nefarious purposes.

When suspicious links are sent through ow.ly, we send a warning before anyone arrives at the identified dodgy sites. From there, you can click “Back to safety” to return to safe web browsing, or alternately, you can click “Ignore warning and proceed” — that is, if you don’t mind blowing up your computer (not recommended ). Instead, read up about phishing and badware at: antiphishing.org and StopBadware.org.

Phishers and scammers are resourceful and plentiful, and while HootSuite does everything we can to protect you and your computer, we recommend the following tips for keeping yourself safe:

• Don’t click links sent from someone you do not trust
• If someone you trust sends messages that seems out of character, be suspicious
• Be on alert if you hear news of phishing or malware attacks
• If someone offers something too good to be true, it probably is
• Never enter personal information on a suspicious looking site

Here at HootSuite, we wish you a safe Internet experience. Heed our warnings, avoid clicking anything dodgy, and — above all — be careful!

Support, features Identity theft, Malware, Phishing, Spam, Twitter

There is a lot going on at HootSuite HQ these days and soon we’re hitting the road to participate in upcoming events and meet more HootSuite users! We’ll host some HootUps along the way – plus flow some truly collectible swag ~ so follow along to say hello and offer your thoughts on HootSuite.

Here’s where we’re bound:

Seattle – 140 | The Twitter Conference

Date: March 8, 2010

Sponsor: HootSuite is a Silver Sponsor

Blurb: Get Your Business Started on Twitter

• Basic tools for reading tweets and posting to Twitter
• How to grow your followership
• Understanding the security risks to your brand and your customers
• Gathering and analyzing data from Twitter

Panel: “License to Tweet: Applications and Services To Die For” ~ 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Panelists: Kathy Gill, DL Byron, Ricardo Rabago, Ryan Holmes, Dan Shapiro Moderator: Steve Broback

Twitter is more than just 140 characters. Twitter is a platform that grows more powerful every day, as developers, entrepreneurs, and people with too much time on their hands create thousands of tools and services that do everything from sending direct messages to tweeting on behalf of your houseplants. This panel of Twitter elites will share their favorite Twitter applications and services, and how these apps help them draw value from the Stream. Managing the Twitter Stream * Top Twitter Applications and Services * Applying Twitter to the Real World * What Apps Do You Wish Someone Would Build?

Registration: 15% off for Hootsuite users: HOOT140 – Attend
Location: Bell Harbor Conference Center downtown Seattle.
Twitter: @tweethouse
Website: http://parnassusgroup.com/twitterconference

Austin – SXSW Interactive Conference 2010

Date: March 12-16, 2010

Blurb:

Features five days of compelling presentation from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable line up of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer.

Registration: Attend
Location: Austin, Texas at the Austin Convention Center
Twitter: @sxsw
Website: http://sxsw.com/interactive

Toronto – Sprout Up Toronto

Date: March 24, 2010

Blurb:

This is a free monthly gathering of like-minded entrepreneurs. “A great chance for startups around the city to get friendly, discuss current trends, and network in a casual, open, and focused setting.”

Innovation Demo – Pre-selected entrepreneurs share their innovative business ideas to the audience
Guest Speaker – Fabulous new speakers will be brought in each month to spur new discussions on relevant trends and ideas
Networking – Network with peers: share knowledge, experiences and drinks

Panel: “Challenges faced and lessons learned as a startup” with Ryan Holmes ~ 6:30-10:30pm

Registration: Attend
Location: Sprout Up Toronto will be held at The Pilot in Yorkville
Twitter: @sprouter
Website: http://sprouter.com/blog/sprout-up-toronto/

Vancouver – F5 Expo

Date: April 7, 2010

Sponsor: HootSuite is the “social feed” sponsor and hosting the Twitter Etiquette panel

Blurb:

1. A function key on a computer used to refresh a web browser or file manager.
2. A business conference for executives on changing technologies in the online space such as social media, search marketing, mobile applications, and future trends. The inaugural event will be held on April 7, 2010 in world renowned, Vancouver, Canada.

Panel: Ryan Holmes is participating in The Secret to Success: Avoiding Start-up Pitfalls panel 1:40 – 2:30pm along with Michael Fergusson and Danny Robinson.

Workshop: Twitter Etiquette for Business 10:00am | 10:45am | 11:30am | 1:00pm

Whether you’re already on the Twitter bandwagon or you see it as merely the latest trend, recognizing the impact of microblogging on business is important. Trends in this area are quickly emerging and evolving. For example, companies are now paying high ranking twitter members to talk about them. It’s a turn (perhaps for the worst) in social media campaigns. Stay in the know by learning about new twitter trends and the impact they could have on your business. More importantly, get to know some basic rules that will help you build a loyal following.

Registration: Attend
Location: Vancouver Convention Centre in downtown Vancouver
Twitter: @f5expo
Website: www.f5-expo.com

Toronto – SMX – Search Marketing Expo

Date: April 8-9, 2010

Blurb:

Over 35 sessions – April 8-9

• Advance your knowledge of search analytics and business strategies, emerging media and technology, real time search and more.
• Learn how to leverage mobile search, Twitter and Facebook
• See demos of some of the most advanced marketing technology
• Connect face-to-face with industry experts

Panel: “Social Media: Advertising, Marketing and Engaging without Spamming: with Ryan Holmes ~ April 9th 11:00am to 12 noon

Registration: Register now at Search Marketing Expo – SMX Toronto
Location: Delta Chelsea Toronto, 33 Gerrard St, Toronto, Ontario
Twitter: @smx
Website: www.searchmarketingexpo.ca
Discount: Get 15% off by using discount code “HOOT15″

events 140 | The Twitter Conference, events, F5 Expo, HootSuite, SMX, Sprout Up Toronto, SXSW

Owly HootSuite attending 140 Characters Conf. by David Berkowitz

The HootSuite Barn Owl release was just last week and many of you are still spreading the good word. We’re still listening and are pleased to share some of your latest posts, anecdotes and remarks.

You can find more related snippets via HootSuite social bookmarks and let us know if we’ve missed something awesome (contact details on the Media Kit).

Social CRM

HootSuite Aids in Social Media Distribution by TMCnet Contributing Editor, David Sims

… the newest iteration of the product has tools for managing audience and tracking campaigns, company officials said, who added that the tools “will be of particular benefit to marketing departments and customer support teams.”

The new capabilities include a “Social CRM” tool to help you learn who follows you, and know who they are in a Friends and Followers chart – “view profile, influence and activity level at a glance, and quickly engage to build relationships,” company officials said.

A thorough, industry-savvy, comprehensive look at the Barn Owl features with marketers and customer service support teams in mind.

Wild Women Hoot Smarter

Tools to Make Your Social Media Marketing Smarter Via HootSuite from Web Marketing Therapy by Nicki Gauthier

There are so many great Twitter and Social Media tools out there but I have found that HootSuite is one of the best! I think the other wild web women would agree because we blog about it here and here.

Thank you Nicki and all of you wonderful wild web women. It is a treat to read about marketers using and loving the new and improved HootSuite.

Measurement Tactics for PR Pros

How to manage online press releases distributed via Twitter a post from Digimarketing Convo Blog

Hootsuite now enables you to add UTM parameters to your links within Hootsuite itself. No longer is an external tool required such as Google’s UTM Link Builder. You can do it all now within one client!

This is a fantastic guide for using the UTM feature in the HootSuite dashboard. Check this out if you have a campaign that you would like to monitor and measure.

Just Keep Hooting

New HootSuite Version Comes Out Today – from Shana’s funny by accident. blog

Manage your relationships, share your success, and prepare your work before hitting “send.”

“The best part is, to enjoy the new HootSuite tools, you don’t have to do a thing — just keeping Hooting!”

We couldn’t have said it better Shana! Thanks for the post.

Video Update

HootSuite Updates! – Athens Social Media posts a video tutorial that will take you through some of the new Barn Owl features.

Hootsuite released some updates last week, and Athens Social Media wanted to keep you updated, too! Check out the new video.

A fantastic and comprehensive video Cassidy. Thanks for helping people really understand the new features – in fact, let’s share it around:

Thanks again for your reactions and remarks, we read ‘em all at HootSuite HQ. Again, you can find more related snippets via HootSuite social bookmarks and let us know if we’ve missed something awesome (contact details on the Media Kit).

News Roundup barn owl, media, news, roundup, tutorials

After weeks of diligent preparation, it’s  a treat to pause and explore the reaction to the new version before hunkering down to prepare for the next release.

It’s truly a treat hearing how excited many of you are about the HootSuite Barn-Owl release so, if it’s OK with you, we’ll share some of your posts:

Are We Perfect Yet?

HootSuite Announces New Features, Including Klout Integration. Is This (Almost) The Perfect Twitter Client? by Shea Bennett from Twittercism

Earlier today HootSuite was down momentarily while they added some new features to the platform. This included a welcome People tab, which allows you to quickly manage your new followers, as well as those you have recently followed yourself.

Interestingly, it comes with integrated support from Klout, which while not a flawless system is probably the closest thing we have right now to a reliable measure of an individual’s online influence and social status.

Great to hear that you are enjoying our new features and thanks for pointing out the value of the Klout integration!

Sharing Secrets to Success

4 More Reasons to Start Using HootSuite by Travis Campbell at MarketingProfessor

I am often asked, “How do you sync all your social profiles?” or “Are there tools available to help people manage multiple social profiles?” I have used multiple services over the past couple years, but my favorite has been HootSuite, and now it just got better.

Travis, we love hearing that you are saving time using HootSuite. Thanks for highlighting the new features and sharing your pro skillz with others.

Efficiency and Progress

The Twitter @ConversationAge Effect from Valeria Maltoni at ConversationAgent puts forth a must-read article about using HootSuite to build efficiencies into your outreach strategy

The point of an automation tool is not for it to do your work, of course. It’s to make doing your work simpler, so you can attend to the things that really matter, like integrating the use of tool with your overall business strategy.

You still get to figure out who you want to reach, how you’re going to listen and track, and what you will answer. Remember that it’s not about more data. Often it’s about what you do with the data you collect.

This is a comprehensive look at HootSuite on how Barn Owl can help marketers and support groups with many pro tips and concepts to consider about the value of links and clicks. We hope it can help you too!

Features Roundup

Web Strategy Workshop offered a breakdown of HootSuite’s Latest Release features:

Updates include…

1. Know and Grow your Audience
2. Custom URL Parameters for deeper integration with Google Analytics & Omniture
3. Save updates as drafts
4. Convert your groups to lists
5. And More!!!

Check out their press release

Thanks for that spotlight on the new tools in the HootSuite kit.

Recap Redux

funny by accident. also spread the news in new hootsuite version comes out today.

We love that copywriting

There are more reviews and recamps rolling in so stay aware and check back when you aren’t watching the Winter Olympics AKA the Social Media Games – and thanks again for your opinions and perspectives.

News Roundup barn owl, HootSuite, news, recaps, release, reviews

Ryan Holmes Movember at TedX Vancouver by KK

Do you know the Web20 show? Well you should and not just to hear Ryan Holmes, Founder of HootSuite talk about pursuing VC funding and the joys of iterating your product. Here’s how they set up the segment:

We talked about how they iterated to get to the full on Social Media Dashboard that HootSuite aims to be. Originally it was just Twitter in their Radar, but soon after they pulled in Facebook, LinkedIn and Ping.fm to use as sources for your social content.

In the “Twitter client” space and the Social Media Dashboard space, there is a lot of demand for features and the competition is strong. Ryan helps us to understand what they are doing different to differentiate themselves from the competition regardless of the platform, web, mobile, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc.

Ryan and I talked quite a bit in this episode about their recent Series A round of Financing of $1.9 Million dollars back in January 2010. In today’s startup world it’s sort of a “no no” to take funding, but for them they really needed that financial backing to take HootSuite to the next level and the places they want to take it.

So head over to listen to the Ryan Holmes episode and follow @web20show on Twitter for updates.

News Roundup interview, podcast, radio, ryan holmes, show, social media dashboard, web 20 show

The good news continues from HootSuite HQ with the release of “Barn Owl” – the new iteration of our beloved (and award-winning) social media dashboard. This release includes tools which will delight marketing departments, customer support teams and anyone who seeks to understand their audience plus track what’s working.

In all, HootSuite’s new release delivers on requests from hardcore fans including complete relationship management, enhanced statistics reporting, and a “save as draft” functionality as well as a few tune-ups to stay at the forefront of performance and convenience.

Here’s a recap of the new tools and their benefits:

Know and Grow your Audience

Sure you’re friendly, but keeping track of all your pals and contacts can get overwhelming. Get to know your audience better with the new Friends and Followers chart. Besides the usual profile info, you’ll see their activity level and “Klout” score, and you can quickly reciprocate the friendliness across networks.

Track what’s Working

Marketing pros take note: HootSuite helps you gather intelligence by tracking which messages generate clicks – including breakdowns by time and by region. Easily share your success with chart printing plus CSV exports for custom reports and PDF printing. Oh did we mention custom URL parameters? If you know what they are, you’re definitely excited.

Embrace Procrastination

Ever have an update in mind but missing one critical part? Perhaps a link or an image? Just “Save as a Draft” on any of your accounts and finish and publish to your networks at your leisure (or whenever you get around to it).

Get Tw’Listed

Twitter Lists are the new Groups – Play friendly with the Twitter-verse by converting your existing groups and lists and the accompanying glory. We’ve made the transition easy – just click the boxes to migrate to public or private lists – it’ll be worth it.

And that ain’t all

More tweaks and tune-ups include: improved Linkedin commenting, custom URL variables for campaign tracking and more tweaks under the hood.

Ready Already

The best part is: To enjoy the new features, you don’t have to do anything ~ just keeping Hooting!

Fresh Help

We’ve also evolved the ways to get help. Choose from the Feedback channel for feature requests, props and thoughts. Or use the Help Desk for FAQs, how-tos and troubleshooting tips (even submit a ticket if you really need to).  Of course, you can always find the Owls on Twitter @hootsuite_help along with Facebook, Flickr, and MySpace.

Webinar

Curious? Have questions? Want to see a demo? The HootSuite team are inviting media and users to attend a brief Webinar on Tuesday at 11am PST for a tour of the new release. Tune-in for the Webinar.

releases barn owl, HootSuite, marketing, release, social media

With the fresh release of HootSuite (code-named Barn Owl), we’ve also revamped the ways we offer knowledge and help. Now there are three ways to feedback, connect or get help – here’s the breakdown:

HootSuite Feedback: A Place for Ideas

Most comments from HootSuite users are about feature requests, road map (and how lovable owls are). This is why we’ve created HootSuite Feedback — a special place for fans of our beloved social media dashboard. Submit feature requests, talk with fellow users, and speculate about the future.

More than just a forum, HootSuite Feedback is a place where you can vote on features, suggestions, and miscellaneous discussions. Similar to Digg, there is a button beside each topic that our fans can “vote up”. If we see an idea that is particularly popular, don’t be surprised if we include it in future versions.

So grab a coffee, start sharing ideas — and remember: we’re listening.

HootSuite Help: Lending a Hand

We’ve streamlined HootSuite Help services to better serve you. We’ve re-created our help pages to resolve your issues quicker. HootSuite Help’s emphasis is on indexing easy-to-find answers to most of your questions.

As a result, we encourage you to help yourself. HootSuite is a free service and we are gaining more users. Hence, it is not always easy to answer every email in a timely fashion. Before creating a service request, be sure to check our newly created base of knowledge to see if there’s a solution to your problems.

Still, we acknowledge not every issue is documented, so please send us a Support Request if there is no article addressing your problem. Our Help Team is always happy to help you!

HootSuite Engage: Let’s Hang

HootSuite keeps adding more social networks to the social media dashboard and we hang out there too. Find us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and MySpace. With our presence on these channels, we often love to chat and connect. Hence, HootSuite Engage – our new initiative to well… engage with you. Post on our walls, share your thoughts, and  get to know us. Wherever you may be, we want you to know you got a friend with HootSuite.

With that said, all feedback, suggestions, and feature requests posted on social networks will now be directed to HootSuite Feedback. Likewise, support questions will be directed to HootSuite Help.

Thoughts on Support: We’re in This Together

Owly HootSuite poses at Socialable book launch - photo Jeremy Lim

HootSuite is nothing without a great product and a passionate group of users. With this in mind, we work hard to continually improve the product while also making sure we help people get started, learn more tricks, and figure out problems. Like other companies, the questions we hear the most are ones we try to pro-actively answer.

To make this convenient for you, we’ve assembled a library of how-tos and FAQs which will solve 90% of inquires we hear through all support channels. The rest may require further help, but now there’s a full-functional support request system to better help you.

Additionally, there is a cadre of consultants, evangelists and savvy users who write tips, tricks and tutorials on their blogs. We’ll do our best to share those with others as well as producing White Papers and Case Studies to help artists, businesses and organizations learn how to Hoot more effectively.

We want everyone to enjoy their HootSuite experience — and  we work diligently to make this happen — thanks for coming along.

Support, customer service barn owl, connect, feedback, help, Support

HootSuite pins - pins and photo by Six Cent Press

Many HootSuite fans are talking about our beloved social media dashboard and sharing the benefits with fellow users.

We’ve stumbled on another batch of valuable tips, tricks, and videos to help use HootSuite to it’s full potential. We’re thrilled that you are creating so many valuable resources and are pleased to share some of what you are saying.

Check these tasty bookmarks for more HootSuite in the blog-o-world.

Tale of a HootSuite Convert

Jai Cole, vice-president of Plum Communications Inc wrote Hootsuite Reigns! A Convert’s Tale:

Then, miraculously, I found Hootsuite, an application that manages multiple Twitter accounts, including LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. I set up my account with the wise Owl and now all I have to do is key-in my 140-character message, check off the accounts it should go to and off they fly. Even better, Hootsuite has a built-in app that shrinks your long URL into a shortened version, so you don’t use all your 140 characters and you can tweet immediately or later.

Why make life more complicated? You can post to multiple accounts within the Hootsuite dashboard. We’re glad that you are a convert!

Video Tips!

Cassidy Hoffman shares some video HootSuite Tutorials:

If you guys aren’t familiar with Hootsuite, definitely check this out! Make sure to watch all three videos in the playlist. It’s going to help you keep track of all of your social networks and really save you a lot of time! Feel free to comment or shoot us a Tweet if you have any questions! We’re always here to help!

Thanks for those helpful videos Cassidy.

Getting the Most out of HootSuite

Here are Ten Tips & Tricks to Get the Most Out of HootSuite from Ivan Walsh:

If you have multiple Twitter accounts, want to schedule your tweets, want to see stats on your tweets, and want it all in a new user interface, then try Hootsuite. I used to use TweetDeck but have moved to Hootsuite as it offers better stats and integration with Facebook. Here are 10 tips to get the most out of this desktop twitter client.

Fantastic! It is nice to hear that you are enjoying the stats and integration.

Discovering HootSuite’s Integration

Bill Anderson talks about organizing and streamlining his social media in HootSuite – A Better Solution?:

I clicked on the link, and started to explore what HootSuite had to offer. To give it a test drive, I created an account. While it only provides a two-way interface between Twitter, Facebook (including fan pages), and LinkedIn, HootSuite also allows you to connect to Ping.fm. There is also an interface to any blog that you maintain at wordpress.com.

Great to hear that our Ping.fm integration brought you to HootSuite.

Yes We’ve Got Stats

Marketing Vox talks Tools that Capture Social Media Metrics:

HootSuite. Mashable also recommends HootSuite as a great Twitter manager that also offers impressive analytics. “The nice thing about the click data you get from an app like HootSuite (or bit.ly) is by looking deeper you can more easily see if those clicks translate into transactions or impressions on your other sites.”

We are very happy to be able to offer useful analytics data. Thank you for the mention Marketing Vox.

2 Thumbs up!

Debbie Turner gives HootSuite an outstanding review – HootSuite Review: Two Thumbs Up as Twitter Client:

Whether you have one or several Twitter accounts, if you’re feeling out of whack staying up to date or unorganized, I recommend considering using Hootsuite. The Internet is loaded with Twitter applications (some free, some costing hundreds of dollars). HootSuite is one of the best of the bunch and is fully loaded with useful tools.

What an amazing review. It’s good to hear that you are successfully managing all your Twitter accounts now with HootSuite. Thanks for spreading the word!

News Roundup news, reviews, tutorials, users, videos

The web is full of clever money making ideas, and NYC model Tanaya adds another to the mix with “She Wears Your Tee“. Basically, she sells a promotional service based on the humble t-shirt — and her ability to look good wearing it:

Companies such as L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, and Lucky Jeans have hired me for thousands of dollars a day to help promote their brands but I am offering my services to you for a fraction of that cost.

Interesting to see the parade of web companies using her promotional services already – the days are selling out and she’s a better “ad” than Chris Pirillo’s chest.

NYC Fashion Model Tanaya wear Shirts for fun and profit

Lucky for us, Tanaya is a HootSuite user. Hence, she offered a true assessment of our contribution to the social web in her January 23, 2010: Hootsuite “release”:

Hootsuite is a great tool for Twitter users. Hootsuite allows you to manage and track links, auto-shorten, have multiple accounts, and even pull data. Hootsuite supports Facebook, Twitter, and more. You can even schedule tweets to go live at a later time! Get Hootsuite at http://www.hootsuite.com, and make sure to get the iPhone app as well.

xoxo, t

How it works:

Go to my calendar, find the day that you want to advertise on, and click Buy.

Send me your smallest shirt at least two weeks before your ad date.
*Don’t have a shirt? Contact me and I will help you.

Wait for your day to come and think of ways to make it more successful for YOU. I will try help you reach your goal. Whether it be promoting the grand opening of a new store or increasing the followers on your twitter account. We can work together and even create special offers and incentives for my viewers.

hootsuite news fashion, nyc, she wears your tee, t-shirt, tees

G4Tv.com’s Attack of the Show featured HootSuite in the Feb. 3, 2010 episode Top Twitter Tools Review. They do a stellar job of sharing the key benefits of using our beloved social media dashboard (and they seem to be using HootSuite as well).

Here’s how they set it up: “Nothing is more important than letting the world know about your current status in 140 characters or less. Check out our favorite Twitter apps that allows you to microblog your heart out.” ~ enjoy the vid!

Read more: Attack of the Twitter
Follow @aots

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