HootSuite5 Arrives with HTML5 Including Geo-search, Themes, Google Analytics and Native Re-Tweets
HootSuite5
HootSuite users will see significant changes to the social media dashboard today beginning with a completely refreshed HTML5 user interface, plus geo-located search, native Twitter ReTweets, and integrated Google Analytics.
HTML5
With the recent announcement of Google’s HTML5 site and many other brands like Apple on-board, HootSuite has made a substantial investment in this new technology standard. HTML5 allows us to release unique features like geo-search and drag & drop, plus improve performance with quicker tabs and streams.
Geo-Searchable
Now, search for tweets by proximity based on geo-location information sent by some (not all) users. Using this HTML 5 powered feature, you can narrow down results to messages sent from your area, wherever you are. This feature will help you learn about local resources, get tips while traveling, and find new customers or followers.
Choose your Theme
Most noticeable is a fully re-imagined dashboard, with more space for updates and an intuitive arrangement for HootSuite’s many features. Additionally, you can now choose a design theme which suits your tastes.
Options include the familiar green & blue “Classic,” the sleek & stunning “Blue Steel,” or the darkly cool “Magnum.” Which one will you choose? Switch at your leisure to find your favorite.
Faces in your Book
Include a photo when you upload a link to Facebook, and then add titles and descriptions to make your update more meaningful and inviting. BTW, this media preview functionality was one of the most requested features on the Feedback Channel.
Another popular request? More keyboard shortcuts. We delivered: SHIFT+ENTER now sends your message to save you another mouse click. Stay tuned for more keyboard shortcuts to come.
New or Ol’school RTs
When Twitter launched, early users created shorthand to define actions and attributes, including @replies for addressing, #hashtags for context, and RT for Re-Tweeting or quoting a message. RT-ing became a powerful way to spread messages beyond users’ local networks.
To standardize the process, Twitter.com added an auto-Re-Tweet functionality, which HootSuite has now integrated. HootSuite users can choose whether to Re-Tweet with initials “RT” or to use the Twitter native auto-Re-Tweet tool.
We can now check this one off the feature request list too.
Google Analytics in Dashboard
Google Analytics users no longer need to switch screens to analyze site traffic and performance because all the data is now available in HootSuite’s dashboard. Using OAuth secure login functionality, you can track conversion to sales, lead generation, or other metrics from your Google Analytics, using advanced URL functions.
Drag it, Drop it, Send it
Quickly attach an image or other file to your social update by dragging directly from the desktop and dropping into the message box — this simple act will auto-upload the file to Ow.ly file sharing and add a pre-shortened link to your message. Then you are ready to send your enhanced note to any of your social networks.
Konnichiwa!
This release also features interface localization in Japanese, allowing more users to enjoy HootSuite in their native language. More linguistic choices are coming soon, to spread the international enjoyment.
Even Faster
The social conversation happens in real-time, so you don’t want to wait for pages and messages to load. Using HTML5 technology, HootSuite engineers tuned performance to make the web application more responsive — including caching to eliminate reloading when a user switches tabs.
This performance upgrade is especially useful for companies managing dozens of social network profiles with large teams of users.
Handier Help
Listening and learning from HootSuite’s userbase is an important part of making decisions which meet the needs of social media marketers and enthusiasts. HootSuite offers assistance via a Help Desk and and gathers opinions via a Feedback Channel. With the new release, these channels are easier to access directly right from the HootSuite dashboard. We invite you to share your ideas, and to enjoy a sense of pride when your requested feature is added to a future release.
Twitter Status
The World Cup football/soccer tournament in South Africa has shown the worldwide popularity of Twitter as fans everywhere document their opinions and the nuances of each match. This popularity is also evidenced in the massive demand on Twitter’s systems especially at gametime. Keep tabs on uptime and performance via Twitter’s status blog and API Status on dev.twitter.com.
Media
Press release with more info about the release and related features and benefits
Media Kit with company descriptions, logos, executive bios and media contact info
News articles social bookmarks of media and blog articles referencing HootSuite
Simply Awesome everyone. What a nice surprise to wake up to.
Take a look at the Owl with your cuppa joe.
How do I get the old style of RT back? Now all I can do is RT using the new method that is just not for me. Please help as I am sure it is a setting that I cannot find. Thanks!
Hi Nate, you can choose which style of RTs in the settings. Here’s instructions: http://help.hootsuite.com/entries/201700-how-to-set-up-old-style-retweets-in-preferences
Nate, click on the Hootsuite owl logo in the top left of the screen. Then go to preferences. Uncheck the Use Native Twitter Retweet box. (I can’t remember the exact wording of the box, but it’s obvious.)
This is very cool! Great work guys. Love the innovation and forward thinking ;) Keep it up.
We’re extremely happy that you are pleased.
Wow, exciting improvements. Glad to see Hootsuite developing so quickly. Looking forward to Facebook integration in the Android app :)
Thanks Brandon and we hear you on the Facebook for Android request.
I have been using Hootsuite and Hootlet for a few days now, and discovered that the shortened urls only link to blank pages? What did I do wrong or what do I need to do?
Hmm, that shouldn’t be the case … Please file a ticket with details including a sample link which didn’t work at the Help Desk http://help.hootsuite.com
great update HootSuite…I have to tell you I was really wanting the ability to include an image with Facebook…Once again HootSuite is my favorite Twitter app!
Success!
Awesome features guys. Good job!
Thanks for your kind words.
Hmmm..i have to say i choose hootsuite sometimes cuz of it’s not use the native twitter RT,im no longer use the official twitter web cuz i dont like the native RT…
Can you please change the RT back?or use old and new RT the same time?thank you very much
You can choose whichever style of Re-Tweets you prefer. Follow these instructions: http://help.hootsuite.com/entries/201700-how-to-set-up-old-style-retweets-in-preferences
Hooray!
We feel the same way ;-).
Was waiting for the themes. Will now permanently switch. Thanks
Which is your favorite theme so far?
I’m converting my team from CoTweet to HootSuite this morning. These updates are great – especially the full-on sweet embrace of HTML5.
Kudos!
That’s what we like to hear!
Sweet! Excellent tools. Any word on the Blackberry app?
Just fed the Blackberry programmer a banana to keep him coding quickly.
Thank you, Thank you!
The new features and functionality are miles ahead. Great to see the continued effort and close connection to your user requests!
Cheers.
We love hearing from users — keep the ideas rolling in via http://feedback.hootsuite.com
WOW! this is Fandabby, HTML5 is amazing and Hootsuite has been transformed into an exciting interactive social media dashboard. Thanks Hootsuite for all your great work in making your social media dashboard a real pleasure to visit.
The pleasure for us comes from hearing kind words from folks like you. Best thanks.
The new themes are indeed a fresh change, though the green color still strikes as being the freshest for me. The new scheduler also feels more sophisticated and nicely tucked away. The scheduler also seems to remember your schedule time even when you don’t save the actual message that has to be sent yet.
The best new change for me: better space utilization. Things feel a little cramped up, though the visuals are better than before and indeed lean more towards productivity and quick efficiency.
Just a tip guys & girls: in the future, even if you post a tweet saying Hootsuite X is ready and in reality it turns out to be having issues, please avoid deleting your already publishing tweet. I found out about this through the several Tweeters who complained about how you deleted your originally published tweet and basically tried hiding the fact that you were experiencing issues.
Glad you like the themes and scheduler and layout. Thanks for your feedback.
I’ve been a huge fan of Hootsuite for quite some time. I use both the web & iPhone apps all day every day. Thank you for such a great (free) product. I’m digging most of the interface redesign. The blinking owl is a nice touch ;-)
Yup, it’s the little things that make all the difference.
These are some great addditions , i likes analytics feature most :)
Great to hear!
yeah i am late to say but i love using hootsuite . it help me to manage my all twitter at one place
Finally, new-school RTs! But when is all this coming to the iPhone app, along with the iOS4 update?
Whew, we’ve released 4 major updates to the iPhone in the past month or two and will continue to add more tools expeditiously.
There are some great new features with this release of HootSuite, and I’m excited to start using them. However, some changes were not for the better… People like to add comments when they RT. HootSuite doesn’t allow for that now. Additionally, having the status field expand and collapse is a pain. I preferred being able to hide and reveal it as needed. And, finally, previously, all additional tweets were marked with a blue circle prior to refreshing the stream. Now, only the last 30 are. That makes it harder for me to tell (during particularly active times of the day), what I’ve read and what I haven’t.
If you could fix these few things, I’d say you nailed it! Thanks for the thought that went into providing more analytics and easier sharing of information!
Want the old style HootSuite ReTweets or to schedule ReTweets? Click Owl>Settings>Preferences> Uncheck “Use Twitter Web retweets”
Thanks, Marc! That’s one issue addressed!
As Marc pointed out, you can choose which style of RTs – old school or new native. Thanks for the other feedback items.
Been playing around with it for a while and it’s everything that I’ve dreamed that HootSuite would become! I requested themes a while ago (as did many others I assume) so I’m glad that’s now available.
I still can’t believe this service is free. Thanks for the hard work guys!
Glad you like the themes — which is your fave so far?
How can you use the new feature in Hootsuite 5 to update your Facebook account just like you where on Facebook (with the link/photo/video incl. preview)? The function ‘Faces in your Book’ as written above.
I can’t figure this out either?
Never mind I see it now:)
First make sure you have the Facebook page checked.
Then paste the page URL into the Compose Message box… you’ll see a message that says “Generating Link Preview for Facebook post…” then a box with all the thumbnail options will appear. Make sure you do it in that order or it may not work.
Wow, that works. Thanks al lot!
It never works for me. It just hangs on that message “Generating link preview for Facebook post…” forever.
Maybe because I’m trying to link to a Facebook page itself?
How do you get native retweets to work in Hootsuite? I’m in the new interface, I click the retweet button. It asks me “Retweet to your followers?” I click yes, expecting to get an option to edit the retweet. But then it just automatically posts the retweet.
How do I edit retweets?
Ah, I see the answer in this tweet you gave an hour ago. http://twitter.com/HootSuite/status/16931494237
Fan of old style RTs? Click the Owl > Settings > Preferences > Uncheck “Use Twitter Web retweets”.
Thank you. :)
Very nice, guys. But without ads on the main page, how do you pay the bills?
We have paper routes and do some babysitting on the side.
I love the new Hootsuite, but hate it. I can’t get to the help desk or to the FAQ’s. What are the requirements for using the GEO feature because it says my computer doesn’t support it.
Thanks
What happens when you click the Help Desk link in the Owl menu? What sort of computer and browser are you using for geo-search? Keep in mind, geo-search and some other features require updated browsers.
I like the interface changes. It’s cleaner and there is more space for tweets in each column. Show de bola.
Have you picked out a preferred interface design theme yet?
I love the improvements. I’m glad the original RT was retained. I am not a huge fan of the way Twitter does it now.
The new look and feel is great. I can find things a lot easier now. Way to go.
Glad you caught the choice of RT style Jared.
coool.
Cooooooollll indeed!
Only problem I find is when you refresh and go to older tweets…you can’t tweet, RT, DM or favorite as no icons are showing.
Otherwise, great update…
Hmm interesting — the icons should show up — we’ll look into it.
Using IE v7.0.5730.13
Oh that likely is the reason — still a few tweaks to come for IE7. Can you try with another browser or update your browser to IE8 or other?
Great info… Look fwd to using the upgrades!
Sounds great Torrey, let us know which new tools are your favorites.
I HEART HOOTSUITE, now I get to have fun and relearn it with all the new features. Hootsuite makes my life so much easier when it comes to managing my social media networks. Def going to pass this info on my blog…Thanks!
Thanks Kacey – we heart everyone who hearts HootSuite
Wonderful! Hootsuite gets better, almost perfect: the only feature missing is the ability to measure, count and display RETWEETS from our links. That’s the only reason why I still use migre.me instead of ow.ly
But, the rest, great job, guys!
Thanks and consider adding the RT count idea to the feedback channel for consideration: http://feedback.hootsuite.com
Great work. I am now switching back to Hootsuite! Well done.
Glad to hear this news Fabian.
Love the new Hootsuite! I use it for work and it’s really helped us with our Twitter/Facebook accounts.
However…
Using the Hootlet for Facebook now causes the schedule/send bar to disappear when it tries to add the additional info for a link. I have to copy/paste everything over to the regular Hootsuite dashboard or else get rid of the additional info section on the hootlet window. Please fix!
We’re on it.
You guys are awesome! Always so quick to work on issues we find :)
I have the same problem, waiting for the fix.
Anyway great job with HootSuite 5 !
Love the upgrades except “My Tweets, Retweeted” doesn’t show who RTed or how many times it was RTed like it does on Twitter… am I just missing this?
Yeah I noticed that too. It would be much more useful to know who is RT’ing our tweets!
Consider adding the ability to “measure, count and display RETWEETS from your links within My Tweets, Retweeted” to the HootSuite feedback channel for consideration: http://feedback.hootsuite.com
I second that Vanessa. I added ‘My Tweets Retweeted’ but can’t see who RT my messages either. Maybe I’m missing something too.
We haven’t added this feature yet. We’re innovating as fast as we can ;-).
Oh good. I’ll keep an eye on it. Would be great to have a ‘new followers’ stream too – for those of us who dont autoreply/autofollow.
Hi there, any idea when this function will be sorted? Don’t mean to rush you – impatience is a symptom of things going well!
I’m looking for it, too
Thanx for all your help
Just wondering if there’s any update on the horizon that will include this feature. I see this first post / request was over 6 months ago. Thx!
Can you let me know where I can learn how to access the analytics? Thanks!
We are busily adding Help Desk articles about using the new features — keep an eye on @hootsuite_help for updates on articles.
Wondering how I link different client google analytics accounts to their twitter accounts . . .
We’ll get some Help Desk articles up soon about using Google Analytics within HootSuite – keep an eye on @hootsuite_help for notices
HootSuites new updates are so wonderful! Esp the thumbnail / Facebook integration.
It would be great to also be able to customize the messages for Facebook and for Twitter – as I don’t like the Twitter jargon to be displayed on Facebook, so right now I have to schedule two separate posts.
More shortcuts, please.
[I'm sorry, i don't speak english]
Greetings from Perú.
Hello to Peru! This idea is in the Feedback channel — add your support by voting at: http://ow.ly/22XrY Gracias
As always, you Hootsuite gents outdo yourselves with another great set of upgrades – and as a bonus, the new version works great on my iPad too.
Fantastic, you rock!
Thanks for your continued efforts.
Rob
Cheers Rob — we aim to please.
I really like the enhancements but I’m experiencing a couple of major problems. First, on two different computers/IP providers, but both using firefox, the typing is EXTREMELY slow to respond so I generally have to wait for it to catch up with me.
Second, on this computer in particular, it’s not auto-refreshing for me. I have to manually do it.
Thanks Brad,
I’ve entered your notes into a trouble ticket so we can troubleshoot and follow-up. Thanks for your comments and we’ll work to get you back in action soon.
it seems to be amazing.
Love it, thank hoot!!
Hoot backatcha.
As usual, Hootsuite has knocked it out of the park. It’s always a nice surprise when I get an e-mail from you. I LOVE the interface now. I often thought that the top bar took up way too much space but now it’s really ideal. And you added my Facebook image feature so I don’t have to go all the way to my FB page to update it and include the image.
Thanks John, we enjoy building these features and sharing the news.
i love it now.
Like the new geo-locaton search. But is there a way to do it to restrict it to say 1 km (the smallest possible option using advanced twitter) ?
At this point, the default is 25km but you can adjust this manually –will prepare a Help Desk article about this soon but in the meantime, you can experiment.
You mean it can be manually adjusted now by me? How?
Oh I just realized you can edit the stream! very cool
Reading all the great info with the updates, can’t find how to have it. Help. Thx. M
Just login to HootSuite.com and you are good to go with the new version. If you don’t have an account, you can sign-up (free) from the frontpage.
Scheduling isn’t working. They don’t show up in Pending and they aren’t going out.
Please submit a Help Desk ticket at http://help.hootsuite.com with the browser version you are using and any specific info you can provide to help us troubleshoot including which other browsers you’ve tried. This will help us replicate the problem and get this bug sorted out.
HootSuite is so useful to use plural SNS !!!!! I think SNS is chsnged by HootSuite all of the world .Especially in Japan it will be commonplace quickly for SNS users.
Great news — we are very fond of our Japanese users.
Good app! I use for Android and the web. Congratulations.
From Spain.
Glad to hear kind words from Espana.
Let me tell you that the updated HootSuite is awesome, far better than the original Twitter interface. Love the iPhone app, too. Keep up the good works folks!
Big thanks and glad you enjoy.
How about sending Geo-tagged tweets using HTML5 geolocation?
We’ll get some documents in the Help Desk soon about using Geo-location tools.
Our hootsuite account is no longer working since the upgrade!! When I log in, all I see are a few hootsuite items at the top of the page and nothing is functioning. The rest is just a big white blank screen below. Help please!
I’ve submitted your note as a support ticket so we can investigate further.
I have the same issue – completely blank white screen. Any resolution yet?
I’ve filed a Help Desk ticket but we’ll need to know your browser version and OS for troubleshooting.
Any luck with the fix to this? I’m using IE8 and have a blank white screen. Firefox works though. Unfortunately I have a few apps that only run on IE, so I’m stuck with it.
Hi, I had a similar problem with hootsuite on one of a number of PC’s I use. Our IT guys found it was a conflict with a plugin in Windows IE8.
I suggest to review your plugins to see what is causing it. Was a relief to get it back!
Hi, I love the new HootSuite redesign, that’s my favorite part. And I would take advantage of Google Analytics but for some reason it’s not working for me. Every time I try to access it it says “Unable to fetch data from Google Analytics” and please try again.
We’ll look into the Google Analytics issue.
Oh darn – now I have to do another screencast! HA! I’m loving every minute of this. Thanks!!
Yup, we hear ya. We’re busy creating new screenshots for the Help Desk too ;-)
Is there a way to reply to multiple people? I use to just copy/paste multiple user names in my streams into my status window for #FF mentions for example. Now, when highlighting names, I also get their tweet times included… so now it’s a super pain. I’m hoping I’m missing something super obvious to do this.
Thanks!
hank
Not at this time — Please request this feature in the feedback channel http://feedback.hootsuite.com – thanks
Love the upgrades but now when I hit the up or down arrow button at the top or bottom of the scroll bar of a given feed, it scrolls VERY slowly where it used to scroll pretty quickly. Is this a bug?
If this persists, please create a ticket at the Help Desk http://help.hootsuite.com and be sure to include browser type and any other troubleshooting you’ve tried.
Overall, GREAT UPDATE! Google analytics isn’t working, when I grant access in the browser it says “spinner loading” and the page data says “done”. I’d love to get this feature working, known issue?
We’ll look into it.
I like the new Hootsuite. But… there are a couple problems. Like I said before, scheduled tweets are not going out.
Why can’t you make a button for native RTs and old style RTs?? That only makes sense. I don’t want just one kind. Sometimes I want to do a native and sometimes I don’t. By the time I switch between them in the settings I could just go to Twitter.com and do it.
Please submit a trouble ticket to help troubleshoot the scheduling problem.
As for RT options, we are pleased that users now have a choice of how to re-broadcast messages but will consider additional ways to select which method to use.
Another thing that seems pretty basic is that Hootsuite lets you send out a tweet that’s over 140 characters. Why would it let you send out something that’s too long when it is just going cut it off? Why not stop you while you are typing it? I think that’s what the old version did.
I submitted a ticket last night for the scheduling problem and never heard anything.
I scheduled a tweet and received confirmation that it was scheduled, however, it didn’t appear under my “Pending Tweets” column. Why not?
We’re looking into this issue.
When i try to use analytics it says Spinner Loading …
Its really great that you’re supporting HTML5 but what’s with the occasional Flash around the app like analytics? Couldn’t javascript be used and making it faster? Campaign Monitor recently used HighCharts to update their charts. http://www.highcharts.com/
still very slow to type in the client, I googled and saw someone else complained about it on facebook.
thanks for submitting the help ticket for me.
4 days later and still awaiting assignment
http://help.hootsuite.com/requests/4382
issue solved on my own. firefox had to be updated to latest version.
Great to hear. Thanks for troubleshooting.
you are always wellcome.
I’m having a problem since the upgrade: I can no longer post photos. The icon for this function is now missing (or hidden) from my hootsuite dashboard and there’s a empty box between the calendar and floppy disc icons.
Could this be Flash related?
Thank you
Hi Ben, I filed a support ticket for you at http://help.hootsuite.com
Any way to not have hootsuite lose my place in the time line when it refreshes? This is the one biggest irritant in using it till now – other features are great but everytime I am reviewing the time line and am a hundred tweets in the past, the refresh causes the entire timeline to scroll up to the first tweet. Thanks!
You can change the column to manually refresh rather than auto-refresh — just change the preferences in the column.
i’m the admin for a business acct on hootsuite and can’t quite believe that this app does not let me (as the admin) see who sent what tweet in my sent items (there are 3+ people tweeting from the one acct). is there something i’m missing? surely for business accts this feature is a ‘must’?
Is there a way to make a re-tweet be “pending” or “in the queue”? I want to be able to save up a re-tweet just like a normal message.
Will Google+ be on your radars as a profile for us. I speak for the masses when I say that Hootsuite for Social Media is like the Kayak of destination travel. “_____ one and done!” I will be throwing every penny I have at you guys should you go public. Much love for the owls.
Yes we are watching Google+ carefully and once Google offer an API, we’ll look towards integration.
I love that HTML is upgraded. Now HTML5 is having lots of new features which can be implemented. The best example is the SIMILAR IMAGES feature of google search.
Hoot really is superior as a social dashboard and (as above) is upgrading and evolving all the time. Being cloubased is also hugely important, allowing you to have multiple, collaborating users across your organization.
Nice! This is a quality little feature, love the stuff that HTML5 does! Good job Hoot-ers!
HootSuite has great features. No doubt. Can it be used for Klout analysis?
I want to use HootSuite to improve my site tweetdynamics(http://www.tweetdynamics.com) Can Hootsuite help me with getting the klout score of a twitter user?
Abhi
Hi Abhi,
Thanks for stopping by. HootSuite does have Klout integration – You can learn how to filter by Klout in this HootTip.
Great! Hootsuite is my favorite Facebook app.
As hootsuite is a Social media Management. I have been using Social Networking site like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Google + would be closely watich if we an get an API.
.
Woohoo! Goot love a shiny new version of Hooty!
Excellent stuff. We love the current version, let’s hope that it adds to the experience rather than removing good features. It certainly sounds good!
Hi Herberts,
Glad you like it! My how far we’ve come in the past couple years. Check out some the newer developments on our Features page.
Does HS5 has app for Symbian platform, I like HS5, anyone please let me know about the symbian version app
My favorite part of this is definitely the Konnichiwa! section. On a slightly more serious note, I see there are a few themes listed in the article. How many themes total are available?
hi ! where can I download hootsuite 5 ? thank you !
Hi there!
If you are using HootSuite on the web, you are automatically using the most recent version. If you are using a mobile app, go to the App Store, or Google Play store to download the current app. Hope this helps!
Merci bien.