Localization and Blackberry 1st Look

Plenty of news from HootSuite recently so you know the Owls at the HQ aren’t slowing down for the summer. Today, HootSuite announces a global crowd-sourced project to translate and localize HootSuite for users around the world. Plus, we’re sharing a sneak peek of the coveted Blackberry app.

Crowd-Sourced Translation

Do you speak geek in multiple languages? Great! We want you to be a star in your community by joining the HootSuite translation project.

So far, HootSuite is localized in English and Japanese, but with updates coming in from all around the world (including far-flung locales like Palau and the Faroe Islands), we want to make life a wee bit Hoot-ier for everyone.

To accomplish this mission, we need help from a few wise Owls to play the translate game:

1. Sign up for the HootSuite translation project
2. Choose your languages and projects
3. Submit appropriate words for approval
4. Bask in the glow of your good deeds

We’re starting with a few popular tongues but welcome your suggestions about which language we should add next. We’re also curious to see which language will be first to go live? Portuguese and Dutch are safe bets but maybe Russian or Chinese will storm to the top of the leader board. Whichever is the winner, expect to see a custom Owly design to celebrate.

Fascinated by linguistic nuance? Apply to be a language translation coordinator which means you’ll give the thumbs-up on the submitted translation candidates before pushing live to the applause of thousands.

Watching the Hoots

Some fans want to know *everything* about HootSuite. If you seek knowledge, consider following @HootWatch– a back-channel account which shares a firehose of HootSuite media mentions and fan reactions.

Curious about who’s using HootSuite? Choose a few @HootWatch lists to follow well-know brands, famous artists, government agencies, education institutions who choose HootSuite for their social media forays.

Plug-ins, Extensions and Apps

While the web version is the most-used variation of HootSuite’s social media dashboard, you can also run HootSuite as a standalone app, add browser extensions, or utilize the Hootlet to enhance your experience.

The Hootlet is the social media aficionado’s secret weapon. Add this bookmarklet to quickly create an update from any web page. A single click pops open a messages already pre-populated with a short link and the page’s <title> tag. You can then edit, schedule or send like any other message. Also available as a browser extension for Firefox and Chrome.

Grab the apps and learn all about these mighty tools at the Help Desk.

A Very Berry Owl

Click for a larger view of HootSuite for Blackberry®

Blackberry fans are adamantly vocal about their desire to Hoot from their beloved ‘berrys — and the wait is almost over! Soon fans everywhere will have a ‘berry-ready Owl with Facebook and Twitter in your hand — just don’t squish it!

To quench your desire, here are the first screenshots of HootSuite for Blackberry to share with your colleagues.

The pilot batch of HootSuite for Blackberry beta users are testing the first iteration with more invites going out soon (we haven’t forgotten about the thousands of you who signed up to test).

Haven’t added your name to the beta list yet? Get on board by signing-up for the HootSuite for Blackberry beta program to be ahead of the curve.

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HootSuite is pleased to announce new premium packages designed for business and organizations, while also continuing to provide a free version for most customers.

Following in the steps of industry giants like Salesforce, Basecamp and Flickr, we’ve crafted the package tiers to provide the most useful tools to as many customers as possible while also providing advanced tools to customers who need the business-centric features. We’ll keep listening closely to see how we succeeded in meeting your needs.

Tiers for All

We aim to continue providing free service to approximately 95% of our current users. Based on a customer survey (thanks again to all of you who offered your opinions), along with a comprehensive review of usage data, we’re confident we’ll achieve this goal.

This means most of you will continue to use HootSuite in much the same way you do today. Additionally, power users and enterprises with teams can confidently rely on HootSuite for critical campaigns knowing there will be continuity of service from a stable company.

What’s This Mean for Me?

Starting today (Wednesday, Aug. 11th), all new customers will be required to select a plan upon signing-up — including choosing the free option if desired.

The following week, current HootSuite users will be asked to choose a package with the help of a migration wizard to help you choose the best plan.

For all customers (aside from Enterprise-class accounts), we’ll include a 30-day free trial. This period will allow you to experiment and discover which plan best fits your needs. Again, we’ll continue to offer a free plan for those of you who don’t require advanced options at this time.

While you don’t need to select a plan straightaway, take a look at the Pro Plans and Enterprise Package to see what is included at each level.

Keep on Flying

Since first spreading our owl wings over a year ago, we’ve listened closely to feedback from all corners. In the past 8 months, we’ve rolled out iterations galore — adding thoughtful tools to help you spread messages, monitor conversation and track results.

And don’t think we’re slowing down the pace! The upcoming road-map is loaded with new tools and integrations which will make for more enjoyable surprises. Plus we’ll keep listening to your feedback and offering help as we continue to create the preferred dashboard for social media managers, community builders, marketing agencies, and passionate fans.

Thanks to You

We sincerely appreciate you sharing HootSuite with your friends, mentoring your colleagues, and telling your company about the power of our social media dashboard. We take your trust seriously and look forward to growing with you.

Stay tuned to the HootSuite blog for more info and feel free to share your thoughts with us via Twitter @hootsuite_help.

With best regards,

Ryan Holmes, CEO, HootSuite

More

HootSuite Pro Plans
HootSuite Enterprise Plans
Online Media Kit — includes logos, descriptions and interview scheduling info

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Yesterday was a big Social CRM release for HootSuite web, but we didn’t stop there and today have a treat for the mobile users. To go along with Apple’s release of the iPhone 4, we’ve updated an iOS4-ready version of HootSuite for iPhone with a number of new features to help you keep on top of the social media game.

This round of treats includes addition of location-based social game “foursquare,” customizable re-sizing of fonts for easy reading, and updates to iPhone’s iOS4 to allow app switching and performance tweaks. Plus a basket full of preference goodies from RT-style choice to custom avatar sizes.

Check It In

Foursquare is a social game which uses location-based services to keep tabs on your friends, discover your city, and earn points. By being the most frequent visitor to your local coffee shop, pizza joint, you might be anointed “mayor” which can include all sorts of perks.

Get social on the town with these tools:

Check-in and Shout out – Check-in then shout out your current location to your friends on Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook.

Check-ins streams – Find out where all of your foursquare friends have recently checked in so you’re never left out on the fun-times.

Check-in history – Follow your own trail of check-ins and see where you’ve been — ideal for archiving activities for and memory recollections.

Sign-up for a foursquare account to compete for badges and accolades with your friends or share your location on Twitter and Facebook.

Locked and Loaded

HootSuite is ready to go for iPhone 4 and iOS4. This results in performance improvements for iPhone 3G or iPhone 4, including ability to switch apps quickly — if you leave the app, you’ll return right where you left off with no waiting.

Just for You

We listened to your feedback and added more choices in the preferences to allow a customized mobile experience, including:

Re-tweet choice – Choose from Twitter’s native RT style, classic RTs, or both
Font sizing – Change the font size for accessibility and/or convenience
Avatar sizing – Fill the stream with smiling profile pics or minimize for more text space
Username or real name – Select which moniker displays to identify your contacts
Timestamp styles – Display relative or absolute data on timestamps
Auto-enable geotag – Share your location automatically on every update
Photo upload options – Save snaps to the iPhone’s library, plus control the image quality

Wanna change? Adjust preferences as desired starting under the Settings tab.

Pro Tips

Push Notifications with Boxcar — This tool snuck in as part of the last release, but in case you missed it… Connect HootSuite with the Boxcar app (free) for instant push notifications whenever you receive a new @mention or DM.

Instant Ow.ly links in Safari — While you are browsing with Safari and see a tweet-able page, just prepend the url with “owly://” (no quotes) and voila! you’ll pre-populate a HootSuite message with a short link ready send to your network.

On Deck

Suggestions for additional preferences that you’d like to see in a future update? Great! Don’t hesitate to add it to feedback.hootsuite.com. We are constantly looking for ways that we can improve how you compose and converse on-the-go.

HootSuite for iPhone update is available at the iTunes App store in Lite (no-cost) and Full ($2.99 USD) versions. Follow @HootSuiteiPhone for updates. See hootsuite.com/iphone for more details.

Blackberry Notes

Finally, fans of RIM’s Blackberry phones can almost… finally begin Hoot-ing since HootBerry is just about ready for beta release. To get on-board for early access, simply sign up at: http://ow.ly/2aRUx and you’ll be among the first to try the new tool.

Notes:

foursquare is ™ foursquare
Boxcar is ™ Boxcar

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The line between customer relationship management, technical support and promotional messaging is blurring as customers seek and expect interactions across multiple channels. HootSuite’s newest update adds tools to help learn about your audience and engage them with the information they desire.

Social CRM

Filter by Influence

Drill down into your network by filtering columns by influence score. Sorting by Klout’s algorithmically-produced score allows you to learn which followers and contacts enjoy the widest reach. Ideal for quickly identifying campaign candidates or response priority.

Filter by Keyword

Too many messages to sort through? No problem. Filter your columns on-the-fly by keyword. Type in your desired word to remove the extraneous updates and focus on what’s on your mind. Ideal for tracking topics and prospecting for clients.

Filter columns by influence score or keyword

Follower Insights

Get to know your network with the knowledge behind the “Insights” tab. Learn where your contacts hang-out online including publicly available links to social profiles, a collection of images, even occupations and title — all in one view.

Hoot to Zendesk Support

Where does social networking end and tech support begin? It doesn’t matter since Twitter updates can now become track-able tickets directly in the popular help desk app, Zendesk. This integration helps streamline your customer service and ensure quality responses.

Organization View

Since HootSuite released Team Collaboration tools, many users have added extensive networks. Now managing your colleagues is easier thanks to a new view which shows your contacts on each network, along with a simple way to add more team members.

Organize your teams and networks

Next Up, Premium Paid Packages

From enterprises to start-ups, HootSuite is pleased to help businesses and organizations reach out to spread messages, monitor conversations and track results. As you may know, we’re excited about releasing paid plans in the coming weeks.

Keep in mind, HootSuite will remain free for an estimated 95% of users based on current usage patterns. Meanwhile, premium users will enjoy access to extra features, high limits and prioritized support.

We’ll release details in the coming weeks but to preview, the paid plans will offer:

* Unlimited social networks
* Unlimited RSS feeds
* Team members on social networks
* Advanced analytics & reports
* Expedited support

Thanks to all of you who completed the HootSuite survey — we are committed to offering top quality tools for all types of users and apprecaite your participation.

##

UPDATE

We’ve added an easy way to opt-out of the Insights tool so your data will not be shown within HootSuite. Please follow the steps detailed at: How to Opt-out of Insights.

In brief, click on your personal profile card > choose the Insights tab > click “What’s This?” > click Opt-out > confirm Opt-out — Your data be instantly removed from HootSuite.

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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

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Assign-ability

With the new tools, updates are quickly assigned to team members — along with a note if needed — plus responses are tracked for accuracy from a single view. Additionally, teams stay coordinated with shared columns, and responding is even easier with shared Drafts. Teams can share their workload and email updates to others — all without leaving the HootSuite social media dashboard.

Ready to Work

Imagine a scenario where hundreds of messages come in daily via a company’s multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts — some updates are comments or kudos, some are complaints, and others pertain to specific requests or projects. However, the one common trait is that each requires follow-up of some kind. The manager knows that some messages need a specific response, others require further investigation, while others need to be logged for sentiment analysis.

Using HootSuite, the team manager easily assigns the messages to the appropriate team member — perhaps one person manages support requests, another manages complaints, and someone else offers thanks for kind words. The messages are quickly answered by the team, who sees all their assignments in a single view rather than sorting through unfiltered columns and possibly providing redundant responses. Occasionally, a team member knows that a colleague could better handle the request, so she forwards the assignment to him with a explanatory note.

Meanwhile, the team manager keeps an eye on responses to ensure quality and to monitor how the team is performing. The team manager also notices the consistent reply messaging thanks to a shared Draft view, and even takes a moment to forward a few interesting updates to executives via email — all from within HootSuite.

The manager sends a team invitation to a new employee, granting him access to post from a few social network accounts. Starting at the “Launch” button, inviting a new user to the team only takes a moment. The new employee will be up to speed quickly, since columns are now shareable within the team.

The happy manager then sits back to admire the efficiency of the team’s collaboration and realizes these tools provide more time to pursue new initiatives — resulting in happier teams and happier customers.

The best part is, all this is possible and ready to go now using HootSuite.

Social Media Springboard

HootSuite’s new Launch Button puts all your account management and team management tools in one convenient new location. Click Launch Button in the lower-right of your Dashboard to quickly access your account settings, manage your team, view your assignments, drill down into your clickthrough stats, or jump back into your Streams to continue monitoring your brand.

Meet Your New Tools

• Message Assignment — Delegate Twitter and Facebook updates to team members via a pull-down menu
• Message Annotations — Add notes to the assigned messages to provide context or instructions
• Assignment Forwarding — Not the correct department? Re-assign a message to a colleague to ensure accurate reply
• Assignment Tracking — Quick view of a message’s status, including which are resolved, handed-off, or outstanding
• Shared Columns — Collaborate with team members by viewing the same set of columns and messages
• Shared Drafts — Utilize pre-written responses and share with your team to ensure consistency and efficiency
• Forward Updates by Email — Share messages outside of the team by forwarding to anyone by email
• New Launch Button — All options, settings, and tools are available from a single starting place for your convenience

Resources

Media kit: http://blog.hootsuite.com/media
Press release: http://blog.hootsuite.com/hootsuite-adds-assignments

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HootSuite adds more tools to the iPhone version of the popular social media dashboard including: instant language translation, geo-location, and Facebook integration plus several key interface enhancements.

With the latest update, you’re still able to manage and monitor multiple Twitter accounts, track keywords and brands, plus explore on-board click-through stats… but we’ve added even more treats.

This release adds the ability to translate Twitter and Facebook messages on the fly — in 50+ languages! Additionally, users can update Facebook accounts, compose Twitter messages in landscape view, share geo-location info, “reply-to-all” with one click, and “Bump™” iPhones to follow one another.

Time for a Holiday

No matter where you’re headed, this Owl will help you stay in touch and informed with instant translation to 50+ languages, geo-location to pinpoint yourself on the globe, and Facebook Profiles and Pages added to the mix — plus a few surprises in the suitcase. With all these new tools, the Owl decided to hop on the plane for a worldwide tour with iPhone in tow.

Check out the new features in action at exotic world locales in this video then get your thumbs on the updated HootSuite for iPhone for a bundle of surprises designed for any quest — from your neighborhood to around the world.

Facebook your Fans

The new release adds Facebook support, allowing you to update your status (in the aforementioned world languages), track your friends’ news updates, and schedule your messages for future publishing. Beyond Facebook Profiles, you can import Facebook Pages from your HootSuite account, and add “likes” to your friends’ posts.

Translate-ability

This Owl is international – Track Twitter conversations from around the world with instant translation to and from over 50 languages — ideal for monitoring relevant topics and brand mentions from global friends and customers. You can also compose in your native language and translate on the go — then post your update to both Twitter and Facebook — makes running international outreach campaigns easy.

Wherever you Go … Geo

Alert the world to your exact location by including geo-location data with your Twitter update. Great for chronicling a trip, remembering a special spot, or for helping friends find you for fun times. Just click a button to pinpoint your location, and your Twitter posts will be tagged with your whereabouts.

Well Groomed Owl

The new HootSuite for iPhone enjoys a freshened interface with large, intuitive buttons, plus a landscape view for composing Twitter updates in a larger, thumb-friendly space. Additionally, you can easily catch up with all the messages since the last time you checked with a “drag and refresh” option, plus quickly populate a message with all recipients using the “Reply to All” option.

Enter the Lab

Seeking a fun way to add followers in person? Dig into HootSuite Labs to try the “Bump™ to follow” feature — to try, just high five another HootSuite-enabled iPhone and you’ll see the chance to follow each other with a confirmation click. Fist pump, low five, freeze frame five — they all work. Enjoy testing this beta feature, no lab coat required.

More:

Press release with screenshots

HootSuite for iPhone page

Time for a Holiday video – features music “The Nostalgic Buffoon” by Jeremiah Jacobs (@jeremiahjacobs)

Note: “Bump” is ™ of Bump Technologies, Inc. http://bu.mp/

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The news is out n’ about the changes to HootSuite’s built-in URL shorteners ~the lightweight Ow.ly and the feature-laden Ht.ly.

All the details are in the post: Ow.ly and Ht.ly ~ Choose Bar or Non-bar URL Shortener for HootSuite but for the keeners, here’s some reaction and amplification from the around the web:

Venture Beat – Hootsuite simplifies Ow.ly URL shortener, plans vanity shorteners – April 27, 2010 | Camille Ricketts – also appeared in New York Times under the same title

In addition to URL shortening, HootSuite offers tools to help you track conversations online across multiple social media platforms. You can, for instance, continually search for keywords on Twitter, and you can create lists of Twitter members you want to follow. This functionality is also offered for Facebook, LinkedIn, and the slew of other networks people, particularly companies, want to keep an eye on.

Sarah Vela – Dear HootSuite, I Love You – April 27, 2010 | Sarah Vela

I swear to Thor that HootSuite was eavesdropping on my brain last night. The title of the original draft of this post was “Dear HootSuite, I Love You, Please Change” – but an email arrived this morning that changed all that.

All Business – Customers Buy When You Provide Fewer Choices – April 27, 2010 | Lori Richardson

It went on to talk about new features of their social media platform, HootSuite – which is a professional Twitter client. With HootSuite, you can manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets, and measure success. I also learned more about URL shorteners – which I use but don’t think about. No one did, until social media, especially Twitter took off. After reading this particular email I felt it was useful information – unlike much of the noise out there.

BlackWeb 2.0 – Hootsuite Provides Bar and Non-bar URL Shortener Options – April 27, 2010 | rahsheen

This is a pretty significant development for Hootsuite and their URL shortening service. It’s also something that Bit.ly should be paying attention to. As a Hootsuite user, I have still avoided the ow.ly shortener and used Bit.ly because of the stigma attached to framed links (they get on my nerves). With the option to get rid of the toolbar entirely, I will probably start using ow.ly over bit.ly. In addition, the stats interface provided by Hootsuite is just a bit nicer to look at.

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As you’ve likely noticed, HootSuite has added “Owners and Teams” – a new access structure designed for group message publishing and conversation monitoring. With this Team Collaboration release, you can easily coordinate with clients and colleagues — without sacrificing control over valuable account information.

Reaction to the Release

Venture Beat – HootSuite targets agencies and groups with social collaboration tools – Cody Barbierri

HootSuite, a social networking navigation and management startup, today launched several new collaboration tools targeted at public relations agencies and groups who often work in teams to publish and manage through their various social networking channels, like Twitter and Facebook.

The new collaboration tools are meant to help the group publishing and monitoring process  according to the company’s blog. More specifically, help make sure the process is as easy as possible between agencies, groups and their clients. Valuable time is often lost as groups scramble to figure out who should respond or post what during the day.

Vertical Measures – HootSuite Does it Again! – Kaila S.

Today, Hootsuite has upgraded their Twitter platform yet again, and integrated many features that users (like myself) are super happy about. Twitter rolled out their solution to multi-tweeters a few weeks ago (to a few select companies), and Hootsuite has now integrated their version into their platform. Team collaboration on Hootsuite is easier than ever, allowing team owners to control the account and invite other team members to manage an individual account. Team owners can manage the roles of each individual team member, including revoking access with the click of a button.

Web-WorkAtHome.com – HootSuite Adds New Team Collaboration Tool – Bill Masson

I have always been a fan of HootSuite and they keep on going from strength to strength. This latest set of enhancements gives you more flexibility especially if you are part of a group. Team collaboration is very much in mind in these latest updates, with every social network account having a designated owner who is in charge. This gives the owner the ability to add team members to social networks without compromising password security. Team members can have basic or advanced access to accounts which can easily be transferred as roles change.

With the new Team Management system, you can:

• Invite other HootSuite users to share your Social Networks
• Request access to someone else’s Social Network
• Assign Team Members advanced permissions
• Add RSS feeds to any Social Network you have access to
• Consolidate all your HootSuite accounts

methodshop.com – HootSuite Releases Team Features

Oh Hootsuite, we can’t even begin to count all the reasons why we love you. But the team tools you announced today are just amazing.

Once you add all your accounts to Hootsuite, you can then do all the normal stuff you might do like reply, post, and shorten links. But Hootsuite also allows you to post the same message to multiple accounts, schedule posts, track clicks, import RSS feeds and as of today, add additional team members to help you manage your accounts.

If you haven’t tried Hootsuite yet, then stop reading this article and go sign up for an account now. Hootsuite allows you to add all your social media accounts (Facebook Profiles, Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, etc.) into one easy to use dashboard.

Web Business Consultants – HootSuite Upgrades – Christine Weremy

In April 2010, Hootsuite added some upgrades that makes it easier to update multiple social media pages (including Twitter and Facebook pages) and to share administration privileges with others. According to the brand’s April 13, 2010 article, each account can add “team members” to the account without compromising password security and each member can hold various administration capabilities (i.e., basic or advanced).

The new updates allows the administrator to add multiple accounts to his or her account without having to create a new account (before accounts with different email addresses couldn’t share the same account). The upgrades also includes adding multiple RSS feeds to a social media pages and a ‘reply all’ option. According to the April article, this option allows the administrator to pre-populate a message with all recipients of an original message with one click.

Anocial – HootSuite Rolls out Team Collaboration – Brian Ellis

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.

Hootsuite announces today that it now plays better with others. The team collaboration tools will now allow you to assemble your own team and give them rights to various social media accounts as needed. Once on the team anyone can add any social media account to the team without administrative rights. The team owner can assign administrative rights to whom ever they choose but retain the right to delete any account when needed. All in all, I see this as a step in the right direction.

USF: University of South Florida – HootSuite: Manage Team and Multiple Twitter Accounts with Ease

HootSuite is a free ‘Swiss Army Knife’ online application for serious Twitter users. If you manage multiple Twitter accounts and/or share twittering duties with your team, you should give HootSuite a try.  HootSuite manages every aspect of the Twitter experience and even provides statistics on your tweets made from HootSuite and Ow.ly, HootSuite’s URL shortener.  There are numerous other features that will help you streamline your Twitter account management, including scheduling your Tweets for times when your readers are actually reading.  I actually schedule most of my tweets for between 9 am and 5 pm, although I actually tweet them around 2:00 am.

Watch this five minute video to see some of the slick features in this amazingly useful product.  Oh, there is also a HootSuite iPhone App. so you can manage your Tweets on-the-go!

This fundamental advancement will enable enterprises, agencies, content publishers, and consultants to work with clients and colleagues seamlessly, without sacrificing control over confidential account info or compromising message timeliness.

Best known as a web and mobile-based tool for managing Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and other social networks, HootSuite continues to respond to organizations who use the dashboard for customer relationship management and support desks applications, in addition to social media promotional campaigns.

And here’s a few more sources who covered the release:

• Computer User – HootSuite Adds Social Network Team Collaboration Tools – Ideal for Agencies, Enterprises, Consultants and Marketing Groups
• Computerized Spirit – HootSuite Adds Team Collaboration Tools – A Brief Tour
• topix – HootSuite Adds Team Collaboration Tools to Social Media Dashboard
• pingmicro - HootSuite Adds Team Collaboration Tools to Social Media Dashboard – Svartling
• twitterarabic-blogspot – HootSuite Targets Agencies and Groups with Social Collaboration Tools
• Yahoo! news – HootSuite Adds Social Network Team Collaboration Tools – Ideal for Agencies, Enterprises, Consultants and Marketing Groups

Thanks for the coverage and just wait to see what we have planned next!

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Since the very first iteration, HootSuite was built for groups to manage multiple social network accounts. We’ve continued to listen to agencies, organizations, consultants, and businesses of all sizes, and now HootSuite presents “Owners and Teams” — a new context n the social media dashboard designed to help teams collaborate with efficiency and ease.

All About the Team

These Team Collaboration tools are specifically designed for collective message publishing and conversation monitoring by groups. This will allow enterprises and agencies to coordinate their efforts with colleagues and clients without sacrificing control over valuable account info or compromising the timeliness of messaging.

Business and organizations can now assemble specific Teams to manage accounts, topics or projects. Plus, anyone can add their own social networking accounts without an administrator, adding even more flexibility.

Users can also save keystrokes with the highly-requested “Reply to All” option, and can spread messages auto-magically with streamlined adding of RSS feeds to any social network.

Own your Team

• Each social network account now has an Owner who “holds the keys” to that account. Owners can then invite Team Members to publish to different social network accounts.
• Anyone can invite Team Members to their HootSuite account – it’s easy: Just enter their email address, add a message if needed, and select the social network you want to grant them access to.
• Advanced Team Members can manage Basic Team Members’ permissions, plus modify the details of assigned social networks, while only Owners have the ability to delete accounts.
• Changing with the times is easy — Owners can migrate Ownership to another Team Member on an account when roles or personnel changes. You can also revoke someone’s access quickly and easily at any time.
• Team Members can add additional accounts to their HootSuite accounts — great for managing work and personal social networks side by side, or for handling external projects.
• You’ll choose an Owner for each social network account when you first log in. Work with your colleagues to decide who will be the “owner” for your networks (Don’t worry, you can transfer ownership at any time).

RSS to Twitter for All

News feed integration was added to HootSuite a few releases back, but previously only Admins could add RSS/Atom feeds to publish to social networks. Now Team Members can also schedule RSS-powered updates to any assigned social network(s) — Simply add a valid feed address, set the update interval, choose how many posts you’d like us to grab at a time, and choose which social networks you’d like the feed to post to. You can find your RSS settings under Settings > RSS/Atom to feed your social networks. More RSS How-tos on Help Desk.

Reply All

Sometimes you want to Re-Tweet a message, sometimes you want to Reply to the sender — no problem. But what if you want to reply to all of the recipients of a message? Now you can. Just click the “Reply All” option in the top corner of each update. This was one of the most popular requested features from the Feedback channel – take a look and see what you want to vote up next.

On the RoadMap

This new Team Management framework will bring great benefits to agencies and consultancy which handle multiple clients. It’s also a boon for teams with distributed contributors, including clubs, governments, NGOs, and business of all sizes who use HootSuite as a customer service and monitoring tool. As such, our team is hard at work on a new Assignments component — coming soon! — which will allow Team Members to annotate any posts in their columns and assign them to other Team Members for follow-up.

Owners will have an accountability trail, and Team Members will have a dashboard for managing all their assignments. This release is about a month away, but we do have a new mobile release in between to keep you busy.

Learn More

Webinar — HootSuite is hosting a series of about Team Collaboration — Keep an eye on HootSuite Webinars for details

Video — Shows all the new Team Collaboration features ~ with Owls — Roll it!

Help Desk — Find How-Tos and FAQs including tutorial videos for many HootSuite tasks

Feedback — We monitor this user-powered channel, so vote up your desired features

Notes

Video features music by The Numbskulz from Pe Ell, WA.

Company logos, descriptions, bios, media contact info etc. at the HootSuite Media Kit.

Press Release via PRWeb – HootSuite Adds Social Network Team Collaboration Tools

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