Borasky Research Journal Google+ Page 
Full disclosure – I am now a HootSuite Pro Affiliate. Now – the rest of the story. As you no doubt recall, I’ve received a Google Cr-48 Chrome Notebook as part of the pilot program. So I need a Twitter management tool that works on the Cr-48, as well as on my other machines using the Chrome browser.
So I checked out all the free tools in the Chrome Web Store, including the free version of Hootsuite. In addition to the free version of HootSuite, there’s Tweetdeck and Seesmic and a few other lesser-known tools. I tried the three main ones – Tweetdeck, Seesmic and HootSuite. First up was Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck is a very nice tool, but it has two missing features:
- It only connects to Twitter, Facebook, Buzz and Foursquare. I’m not on Facebook, Buzz or Foursquare, but I am on Twitter and LinkedIn. Tweetdeck doesn’t appear to connect to LinkedIn.
- Tweetdeck does not appear to be able to schedule posts.
In addition, Tweetdeck appears to only have the built-in light-type-on-dark-background theme. I found it difficult to use for long periods as a result.
Seesmic is quite a bit better. It connects to LinkedIn as well as Twitter, Facebook, Buzz and Foursquare. It has two themes, black on white and white on black. And as of last week, Seesmic allows scheduled posts.
HootSuite, even in the free version, connects to Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, Ping.fm, WordPress.com blogs, MySpace, Foursquare and mixi. It doesn’t seem to connect to Buzz, however. And HootSuite allows scheduled posts. HootSuite has its own integrated link shortener, and with the free version you get 30 days of statistics history for link clicks. There’s another nice feature that apparently only HootSuite has – when you see a tweet in one of the streams, you can expand the whole conversation if there is one!
What you get with the Pro version, which is $5.99US a month, is
- Unlimited statistics history
- Google Analytics integration
- Facebook insights
- Influence scores
- No advertising (although I display the Promoted Tweets)
- Available membership in the affiliate program
- Access to some training tools, called the HootSuite University
So, I signed up for HootSuite Pro and for the Affiliate Program. I haven’t explored the HootSuite University yet, but it looks interesting if you’re a community manager or other social media professional. If you’d like to sign up too, here’s a handy widget:
