HootSuite – A Better Solution?

I had to disable Loono in my Firefox browser, as Adobe Flash was trying to take all of the 512 MiB of memory. It was impossible to upload photos to a photo album. I was having trouble connecting to my blogs. Without Loono, I was dependent on Gwibber running on the other laptop to keep me current with my social networking accounts. For the reasons mentioned in the previous post, I was not totally happy with this solution. I was using Ping.fm to update multiple sites, when I discovered a solution.

Having disabled Loono, I was trying to figure out an easy way to let all my friends and followers know that I had just posted the first article in a series about compiling the Linux kernel. The only immediate solution was Ping.fm, but it only allows me to configure a single Twitter account. To get the job done, I used Ping.fm to cover all my social networks, except for one Twitter. I used bit.ly to shorten the URL and post to the other Twitter account. This solution definitely lacked any degree of elegance. I noticed on Ping.fm that they had a relationship with HootSuite.

I clicked on the link, and started to explore what HootSuite had to offer. To give it a test drive, I created an account. While it only provides a two-way interface between Twitter, Facebook (including fan pages), and LinkedIn, HootSuite also allows you to connect to Ping.fm. There is also an interface to any blog that you maintain at wordpress.com.

I didn’t want it to be just another tab in the browser. I liked TweetDeck, because it was a desktop application. Unfortunately, Adobe Air is a memory resouce hog. My first experiment was to install the Prism Add-on to Firefox. I set all the parameters, and it still created a regular browser, with the toolbars and my start page. I know it must work, because their are Prism packages on Linux Mint. I could have made HootSuite my start page and turned off the toolbars, but then I would still not be sure that Prism was actually minimizing the footprint of the browser. Instead of experimenting with Prism, I switched and followed the instructions for Google Chrome. It worked and created a separate desktop application. If I clicked a link in a tweet, Google Chrome would open a separate browser window. I did discover that it creates an actual desktop icon under Gnome, but just a default desktop icon under KDE 4.

The initial configuration for HootSuite is to have one tab for each social network. I wanted to see all of them at one time. I actually read the instructions and created a new tab. Now, I have one tab that allows me to see the feed from each social network, and it updates every 5 minutes. You can adjust the update frequency, and fine tune just about everything.

HootSuite has a rather unique feature. If your screensaver activates, HootSuite goes to sleep and does not update. When you click the awake button it does an automatic update. The scroll bar above each column tells you the number of new messages, since the last update. HootSuite has a number of cool features. You just need to read the FAQ to find out what you can do.

Except for one detail, I would give HootSuite 5 stars. While HootSuite is currently free, the FAQ mentions the possibility of being charged in the future. If that happens, I will have to find a new social network aggregator.