Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a social media management platform, created by Ryan Holmes in 2008.[6] The system's user interface takes the form of a dashboard, and supports social network integrations for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Hootsuite Media, Inc.

The Hootsuite Dashboard
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Social media management, social networking service
Available inMultilingual[1]
FoundedVancouver, BC, Canada (2008)
Headquarters5 East 8th Avenue
Vancouver, V5T 1R6
Canada[2]
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)Ryan Holmes, Dario Meli, David Tedman
Key peopleTom Keiser (CEO)[3]
IndustryInternet
Employees1,504 (Jan 2019)[4]
URLhootsuite.com
RegistrationFree, Pro, Team, Business, Enterprise
UsersOver 16 million (March 2018)[5]
LaunchedDecember 2008 (2008-12)
Current statusActive
Hootsuite office in Toronto

Based in Vancouver, Hootsuite has close to 1,000 staff members in 13 locations, including Toronto, Bucharest and Mexico City. The company has more than 16 million users in over 175 countries.[5]

History

In 2008, Holmes needed a tool to manage multiple social media networks at his digital services agency, Invoke Media.[7] Finding that there was no product in the market offering all the features he sought, Holmes, along with Dario Meli, David Tedman, and the Invoke team, chose instead to develop a platform of their own that would be able to organize their many social media accounts and networks.[8] The first iteration of this social media management system launched on November 28, 2008 in the form of a Twitter dashboard called BrightKit.[9]

Recognizing that many other individuals and organizations across the world were facing similar problems with managing multiple social accounts, Holmes decided that BrightKit could be the solution for other businesses also looking to organize their own social networks.[7] The launch of BrightKit had a very positive reception, thanks to its clean interface and publishing capabilities.[10]

In February 2009, Holmes offered a $500 prize for renaming the platform, and used crowdsourced suggestions from the dashboard's 100,000+ users as contest submissions.[11] The winning idea was Hootsuite, a moniker submitted by a user named Matt Nathan[12] and based upon "Owly", the dashboard's owl logo, as a word play on the French expression "tout de suite", meaning "right now".

In November 2009, the Hootsuite dashboard expanded its offering to support Facebook and LinkedIn, and the capability to use Twitter Lists.[13]

In December 2009, Hootsuite spun off from Invoke Media and launched officially as an independent company, Hootsuite Media, Inc. That same month, Hootsuite received $1.9 million in funding from Hearst Interactive Media, Blumberg Capital, and prominent angel investors Leo Group LLC and Geoff Entress.[14]

In March 2012, OMERS Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, invested $20 million, valuing the company at US$200 million.[15][16] OMERS did not buy its stake directly in the company, but rather bought private shares in a secondary transaction from a handful of employees and early investors, said Holmes.[17]

In May 2012, Hootsuite subsequently raised US$50 million in a Series A round, following rumours.[18][19] In September 2012, Hootsuite acquired Seesmic, a customer relationship management system and competitor.

On August 1, 2013, the company announced that it had raised US$165 million in Series B funding from Insight Venture Partners, followed by Accel Partners and OMERS—all three will now have a seat on Hootsuite's board. Holmes also said the company was looking to make at least two unnamed acquisitions, in addition to employing 100 overseas employees.[18]

In 2016 Adespresso grew to $4.8 million in revenue, up 60% from $3 million in 2015. As of 2016 Adespresso has 35 employees and 4,000 customers.

In February 2017, Hootsuite announced its acquisition of AdEspresso, a digital advertisement manager, and LiftMetrix, a leading social media analytics company.[20]

In March 2018, Hootsuite announced $50 million in growth capital from CIBC Innovation Banking.[21]

In January 2021, Hootsuite acquires Sparkcentral, a messaging customer engagement tool and competitor for an undisclosed price.[22][23]

Service

The service is commonly used to manage online brands and to submit messages to a variety of social media services, including Twitter, Facebook and Mixi. Companies and organizations known to use Hootsuite include Facebook, the Obama administration, HBO, Martha Stewart Media, Virgin Group, SXSW, Panasonic, Zappos, The Gap and LHC.[24][25] Hootsuite provides a browser-based dashboard that allows users to keep updated on their Twitter account.[24]

Business

The company behind the service is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Its business strategy allows users free basic service with payment for additional features.

In January 2010, the Hootsuite company was spun out of Invoke Media after venture capital firms Blumberg Capital and Hearst Interactive Media raised $2 million in financing for the company. Localized versions of Hootsuite are available in Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, and German, and 50 more languages are planned to be added.[26] Hootsuite's team continues to contact media organizations to help them manage their online brands, by meeting with groups such as Time Inc. and its subsidiary magazines, including People, InStyle, and This Old House.[24]

As of June 2010, the service managed over one million social media accounts for 400,000 unique users.[26]

Reception

The Hootsuite software has won awards from Mashable at their Open Web Awards 2009,[27] and the Canadian New Media Award.[28] the Shorty Awards,[29]

Competition

Hootsuite is competing in a marketplace for social media dashboard tools or platforms, where marketers are focused on social media management for their clients' web engagement activities. Hootsuite's best known competitors include Spredfast and Sprout Social.[30]

Hootsuite bought out Seesmic in September 2012.[31]

ICE contract and whistleblower retaliation controversy

In September 2020, Hootsuite came under widespread criticism over its agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, made mere weeks after allegations of forced hysterectomies at ICE detention centres surfaced.[32] Following public pressure, the company backed out of the deal, and posted a lengthy statement from CEO Tom Keiser to their official Twitter account that expressed regret over the internal divisions that the contract had created within the company.[33][34] Despite this public distancing from its earlier decision, over the next several weeks the company terminated numerous employees who had acted as whistleblowers in bringing the contract's existence to light, sparking further public outrage and condemnation.[35][36][37][38][39][40]

In October, it was claimed that the contract had not in fact been cancelled as was stated, but instead shortened to one year, however it was later claimed that the contract had been transferred to rival company NUVI, leading to uncertainty about the actual fate of the contract.[41]

References
  1. "Hootsuite Translations Project". Hootsuite. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  2. "Contact Us". Hootsuite. Archived from the original on February 25, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  3. "Hootsuite Appoints Former Zendesk Chief Operating Officer Tom Keiser to Chief Executive Officer". Hootsuite. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  4. "Craft general Hootsuite statistics". Craft. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  5. Hootsuite Press Releases (15 March 2018). "Hootsuite nabs $50M in growth capital for its social media management platform, passes 16M customers". Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  6. "Hootsuite for President, Obama that is", The Vancouver Sun
  7. "Ivan Fernandes, MediaCom Global Director, Social Media Technology, interviews Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite". MediaCom. Retrieved March 21, 2012. Archived August 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  8. "5 Tips for Startup Success From a Co-Founder of Hootsuite". Mashable. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  9. "BrightKit makes using multiple Twitter accounts easy". Vancouver Free Press, #whatsup. Retrieved March 21, 2012. Archived November 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "BrightKit: The Shiniest Twitter Scheduler and Tracker Yet". Mashable. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  11. "What You Should Outsource to Amp Up Efficiency". eESI PeopleTalk. Retrieved March 21, 2012. Archived May 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  12. "BrightKit follower-sources new Hootsuite name" Archived 2012-05-18 at the Wayback Machine. TechVibes. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  13. "Hootsuite Adds Support for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter Lists". Mashable. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  14. "Hootsuite Raises $1.9 Million for Social Media Dashboard". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  15. "Hootsuite Gets $20M from Canadian Pension Fund". AdAge. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  16. Ingrid Lunden (29 March 2012). "Confirmed: Canadian VC Firm OMERS Ventures Takes $20M Stake In Hootsuite At $200M Valuation". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  17. "Hootsuite cashes out through secondary markets". Reuters. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  18. FRANCESCA LOUISE FENZI (1 August 2013). "Hootsuite: $165 Million Series B 'Takes the Pressure Off'". Inc.com. Inc.com. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  19. Ingrid Lunden (3 May 2013). "Hootsuite Is Raising $50M At A $500M Valuation". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  20. Smith, Charlie (February 22, 2017). "Hootsuite Buys New York-Based LiftMetrix". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  21. "Hootsuite nabs $50M in growth capital for its social media management platform, passes 16M customers – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  22. Hall, Christine (2021-01-06). "Hootsuite Acquires Sparkcentral". Crunchbase News. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  23. "Hootsuite acquires Sparkcentral to unify and automate social customer service". VentureBeat. 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  24. "Keeping tabs on your brand". The National Post. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  25. "Hootsuite helps you manage your brand on Twitter (hey, it works for the White House)". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  26. "Hootsuite explains revenue generation strategy". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  27. "Open Web Awards 2009: The Winners". Mashable. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  28. "HootSuite wins Canadian New Media Award and more". Invoke Media. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  29. "Announcing winners of the 7th Annual Shorty Awards for brands, agencies and organizations". Shorty Awards Blog. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  30. "Hootsuite Competitors". CrunchBase.
  31. As Twitter Tightens Its Grip, Hootsuite Buys Seesmic
  32. "Allegations of unwanted Ice hysterectomies recall grim time in US history". the Guardian. 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  33. Hootsuite [@hootsuite] (September 24, 2020). "A message from our CEO, Tom Keiser t.co/T1aU0o5HhS" (Tweet). Retrieved January 7, 2021 – via Twitter.
  34. Weichel, Andrew (2020-09-24). "B.C.-based Hootsuite backs away from ICE contract after employees speak out". British Columbia. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  35. Weichel, Andrew (2020-10-06). "Hootsuite employee fired after speaking out about company's ICE deal". British Columbia. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  36. "Hootsuite whistleblower dismissed after criticizing company's dealings with ICE". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  37. "Hootsuite whistleblower fired after revealing company's dealings with ICE". citynews1130.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  38. "Hootsuite workers who spoke out over ICE deal say they're no longer employed". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  39. Jammi, Nandini [@nandoodles] (October 6, 2020). "UPDATE: @hootsuite has fired the employee whistleblower who came forward to the public about her company's partnership with ICE. Solidarity with @samelaanderson. ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 t.co/YGT4vZ75Dh" (Tweet). Retrieved January 7, 2021 – via Twitter.
  40. Jammi, Nandini [@nandoodles] (October 7, 2020). "UPDATE: @hootsuite fired a second employee after they spoke up against ICE contracts on social media, reports @BIVnews. This is a company whose leaders are rotten to the core. t.co/PMzEv8xg4u" (Tweet). Retrieved January 7, 2021 – via Twitter.
  41. Jammi, Nandini [@nandoodles] (October 7, 2020). "UPDATE: It does look like @Hootsuite's contracts have been awarded to @nuvi instead. I've deleted this tweet. It goes w/o saying that Hootsuite has damaged its reputation enough that no one believes a word they say anymore. t.co/Xi40QhM8dU" (Tweet). Retrieved January 7, 2021 – via Twitter.

Further reading
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