HootSuite Releases Simple, Useful, Ridiculously Costly Tool

Mike Phillips — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:30:00 GMT

HootSuite, the multi-social network manager has released a simple, yet very useful addition to their suite of tools. Dubbed HootSuite Secure Profiles, it allows account owners to require a confirmation before an update is published to social profiles. So, if a company profile (or several) is set this way, the user must use a slider (pictured below) as a confirmation before sending the message. It's a great idea – but sometimes what might seem like a good idea at the time, isn't. Just ask @ChryslerAutos.

The rub (and there is one, of course) is that Secure Profiles is only available to HootSuite Enterprise members -- so you have to pay. A lot. Enterprise plans start at a whopping $1,499 per month. Otherwise, just be sure to educate your staff on acceptable social practices. And hire smart people.

It's unfortunate that HootSuite isn't providing this tool for free. Wouldn't everyone be better off -- wouldn't the social Web be better off – with something like this available to everyone? I suspect a rival will soon have this feature available to all, for free, which could actually cause many users to switch their alliances – especially small business operators.

Twitter Creates @anywhere, Opens the Social Web

Mike Phillips — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:30:00 GMT

Twitter has been an open network for some time. Now, they are ready to expand beyond geekdom and attach a level of communication across the Web, using a simple system and a network of high-visibility websites.

The impending release, called @anywhere, will let users follow Twitter accounts and post updates (tweets) to their feeds without ever visiting Twitter.com. Rrom the Twitter blog: Imagine being able to follow a New York Times journalist directly from her byline, tweet about a video without leaving YouTube, and discover new Twitter accounts while visiting the Yahoo! home page—and that’s just the beginning.

Initial partner sites include Amazon, AdAge, Bing, Citysearch, Digg, eBay, The Huffington Post, Meebo, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, Salesforce.com, Yahoo!, and YouTube. Amazon and eBay are particularly interesting, considering the availability of Amazon Associates and the eBay Partner Network, as well as Salesforce.com and their huge affiliate network. Functionality like this will add an entirely new layer of interactivity to the sales process, as well as offer the ability for products to be spread virally. But @anywhere is not limited to big media properties - individual site owners will be able to incorporate the network using only a few lines of javascript, according to Twitter.

In addition, having sites like Bing, Citysearch, Digg, and The New York Times will bring Twitter front and center to a new group of consumers who are not yet using Twitter. For those marketing products or content on Twitter, this could be huge. Of course, it could also result in massive overload for regular Twitter users. At any rate, it's a clear indication that Twitter is not satisfied being a niche service provider - they think they have a consumer-facing product that goes beyond geeks, bloggers, businesses and the press. And they have a good start - just about every major media company and website has their own Twitter account and they promote them relentlessly in print, on TV and even in radio.

If you think about it, @anywhere is a perfect evolution of Twitter, and a perfect antithesis to Facebook. Unlike Facebook, you don't need to know people to connect -- you just have to share a common interest or two. Now, users won't even need to visit Twitter.com to connect, share and discover content. This will allow these connections to be made Web-wide. Where Facebook is holding users (and advertisers) captive, Twitter is setting them free. So the next question is, how will Twitter monetize on this?

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'Net Features : social web

HootSuite Releases Simple, Useful, Ridiculously Costly Tool

Twitter Creates @anywhere, Opens the Social Web