I follow a number of HootSuite “owls” on Twitter and I’m pretty sure I stumbled onto details of this minutes after the news broke last night as details are now emerging about Vancouver StartUp, HootSuite acquiring competitor Seesmic. HootSuite is the grand-daddy here with Seesmic having a much smaller user base, however, the pickup is still quite relevant to the social media user community, particularly is this will likely shrink the number of available options for users in selecting a social dashboard solution. I’m a long time user of both services, having been a user of Seesmic likely since it rolled out in Beta and have been a fan of founder Loic Le Muir since watching him in the popular LeWeb event each year since it rolled out.
Seesmic has terrific mobile mobile apps, I’m a huge fan of the Android and iOS builds and they were an early leader in that space in my mind. Much leaner than HootSuite in functionality, the app “just plain works” and is a perfect tool for any user, particularly the novice. The PC dashboard is feature rich although one now requires Pro functionality to make is useful at all, thus eliminating it as an option for anyone not willing to pay a monthly fee – that was a mistake in my mind. HootSuite, however, is robust, is growing fast, and has become THE social media dashboard of choice for the enterprise user – if you or your company need a solution to help manage your social marketing efforts HootSuite is hands-down the tool for you! HootSuite will continue to support Seesmic users, however they will be transitioned over time according to the company.
From HootSuite…
It is a logical step in the lifecycle of both companies, who have shared many similarities since they were founded four years ago. Seesmic is a cross-platform application that was founded in 2008 by super entrepreneur and blogger Loïc Le Meur. HootSuite’s acquisition of a major player is yet another milestone in the company’s recent hyper-growth. HootSuite focuses on the needs of power users, so Seesmic’s business and enterprise customers will further reinforce HootSuite’s position in the upper left quadrant of the Twitter Partner graph:
