TweetDeck and Hootsuite are both software applications that I have used
to manage my social network community.
Although they might seem similar, there are quite a few distinguishing
characteristics between the two. Here is a brief comparison of the two apps although I prefer to use only one.
TweetDeck is an application designed to manage twitter
accounts when it comes to sending and reviving tweets as well as when viewing
profiles. The first version of TweetDeck was release on July 4, 2008. TweetDeck allows users to
monitor and tweet from multiple accounts simultaneously. It has its own
URL shortening option whereby a link of any length will only use 23 characters
of a Tweet's 140-character limit. It has a Twitter users Login Verification which is an added account security should users sign in with
their Twitter username and password.
Tweetdeck's dashboard consists of several columns that
display the Twitter account's timeline as well as other options such as viewing
tweet updates, tweet mentions, direct messages, lists, trends, favourites,
search results or hash-tags. Tweets are sent immediately or can be scheduled for later
delivery and columns can be filtered to include or exclude words or tweets from other users.
I have discovered that Facebook is the only other social network that TweetDeck
works with. TweetDeck allows these social networks to select or deselect
as many messages as I want across multiple profiles of Twitter or Facebook.
Hootsuite, on the other hand, was launched in 2008 and differs slightly from TweetDeck
as it allows connections with more than one social network such as LinkedIn,
Foursquare, Myspace and Wordpress to name a few. You can use any of these social
networks to login to HootSuite.
This social media management tool has a dashboard (which I love) that consists
of tabs that organise all the other social profiles that I have connected to HootSuite. With this application there is no need to sign in to each
different profile as I can monitor multiple streams from one platform, thus improving
productivity as I will have more time to do other important things.
Although this platform allows communication to more that one
social network, one can still send private messages out to targeted audience
groups through the HootSuite dashboard.
HootSuite is currently one of the only ways to cross-post to my Google+ page. It also has a link shortening icon that tracks the metrics on
posted links. With this app you can also create reports and summaries for your
organisation which can be helpful.
HootSuite has a mobile app that is available to check on all my accounts while travelling, therefore, saving me time and money,