Hootsuite 5

I run a bunch of different sites. And I needed a centralized Minority Report Police Department type of way of monitoring my sites as well as my social cloud. But I've become the type of software user who prefers to leave all of the software on the net. I hear users swear by Tweetdeck and Seesmic. I've used Peoplebrowsr before...it was okay. I've used PingFM and Hellotxt. But Hootsuite is definitely my weapon of choice.

Here are the highlights:

- 3 themes that are streamlined versions of the original theme...the Magnum theme will remind you of Tweetdeck or Peoplebrowsr.

- The redesigned interface is makes much better use of space with drop down and hidden panels and forms.

- Built in site analytics so just in case you were thinking about using Bit.ly, w.sns.ly, or some complicated email setup...think again.

- Hootsuite still has two custom default url shortners. And a new pro service is coming where you can have vanity shorteners.

- Hootsuite users can still team up to take full control over multiple social media accounts.

- Drag and Drop images and other files into message box to send file over the network (works with latest Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers).

- Sharing from Hootsuite to Facebook is just like sharing on Facebook itself. Sharing photos, titles and descriptions in wall posts. Pics and videos can be viewed in-stream.

- Hootsuite uses HTML5 for cached content and displaying streams faster.

- You can still inject your feeds to streams. No need for shaky delivery services (I still got love for you Twitterfeed).

- Users can also perform searches, location-based "geo" searches, track down keywords, create lists, create filtered stacks, and keep up with updates wth linkedin, myspace, pingfm, wordpress and foursquare as well as twitter and facebook.

Now that I've repeated what was on the teleprompter, I'll tell you what's not so great.

Not one of my favorites, but Hootsuite also uses the new version of retweets. Where the entire tweet is automatically posted. But this optional. Returning to old school tweets are a mere a unchecking of an option. (Settings > Preferences > uncheck Twitter Web Tweets > hit save)

Possibly a few bugs? Or it's just Twitter's notorious downtime. I've come across a few posting errors. I'm sure this will be fixed soon.

Read about all of Hootsuite 5's new features in great detail.