What are Hootsuit and Tweetdeck?  They are both social media management programs that allow you to become way more nerdy then you ever thought with your social media.  Both have the ability to handle facebook and twitter accounts from the same dock.  I have recently been introduced to tweetdeck (again) which I know is a little behind but oh well.  I have been using Hootsuite for quite some time now but my re-introduction to Tweetdeck made me think twice.  This is my brief review of both:

Mobile Platforms:

Let’s me honest without our smart phones the amount of time we spend tweet and facebooking would be unacceptable.  BUT because we can check our twitter and crank out a few tweets and retweets while waiting for your double mocha whatever it kind of makes it ok!  This makes the mobile app for these social media managers hugely important.

Tweetdeck:

Pros:

1. Smooth platform for multiple twitter feeds
2. Notifies you on new tweets in multiple streams
3. Can save multiple searches

Cons:

1. Cannot schedule tweets
2. Cannot shrink links
3. Cannot manage Facebook or Linkedin
4. tracking conversations can be difficult

Hootsuite:

Pros:

1. Can schedule tweets
2. Can manage multiple social media accounts and send messages to all of them simultaneously
3. Shrink links to fit into 140 more easily
4. Humble analytics tracking
5. Easily track twitter conversations

Cons:

1. Not as seamless as TweetDeck
2. Must click on individual streams to view and there is no notifications of new messages

Mobile app consensus:  I think the best overall mobile app goes to Hootsuite.  It just does more.  It may not look as pretty but the fact that you can schedule out messages on multiple social medias, keep analytics of your posts and shrink them to fit into your 140 characters pushes Hootsuite over the top for me.  I will say though that I do have Tweetdeck on my phone still because I think it is a more seamless way to engage in TweetChats.  If you don’t know what that is check this out.

Desktop:

For those of you without a smart phone or that just prefer to type, I figured I would review the desktop versions of both as well.

Tweetdeck:

Pros:

1. has actual app
2. very good looking
3. easy to use
4. schedule messages
5. automatic updates
6. view multiple streams at once

Cons:

1. no analytics
2. no URL shrinking

Hootsuite:

Pros:

1. easy to use
2. analytics
3. URL shrinking
4. view multiple streams
5. lots of tips on how to utilize best

Cons:

1. Online format only, no app
2. not quite as pretty in my opinion

Desktop winner:  Tweetdeck.  Tweetdeck’s desktop application (mac) is fantastic.  It is the absolute best way to engage in tweetchats due to the ability to save hashtag searches and have them update automatically.

Hope this was helpful and not too bias 🙂