Owly On the Go

For some Friday funtimes, rather than releases or tech information, this post is dedicated to globe-trotting Owls.

You see, our beloved mascot Owly HootSuite is often on the road, traveling to all sorts of interesting places.

We enjoy seeing evidence of Owly’s exploits (we worry after all) – so, when you capture Owly photos please send them our way. Upload your photos to Ow.ly (natch) or Flickr (tagged with “hootsuite” or photo of HootSuite) – then our trained ornithologists will identify and share.

Here are a few in the collection:

@jesswakeman and Owly check out Apples and Ben in London

Jess and Owly went all the way to London on a recent trip. They made a quick stop at the Apple store on Oxford Street before heading over to see Big Ben. Hmm surprised Owly didn’t get a mohawk while there.

All By Students Take Owly on a Roadtrip

The All by Students crew took Owly on a roadtrip and shared some snaps at some noteworthy landmarks. If you study in the States, check out more from their trip at: allbystudents.com.

@kempedmonds Indoctrinates the youth!

There is no such thing as “not old enough” when it comes to social media. Social media educator Kemp is already helping his nephew rock it HootSuite style!

@Miss604 is Vancouver’s Best for Twitter and Blog

Vancouver blogger deluxe, Rebecca Bollwitt uses HootSuite to dominate the social web with her popular blog and other media channels which just own her the “Best of Vancouver” prizes for best local Twitterer and (tied for) best Local Blog. Rebecca submitted this great photo, likely taken by HootSuite Blackberry beta tester John Bollwitt.

@jasonkovacs photogs Owly at Launch Party 9 Vancouver

Launch Party Vancouver is a lively mixer for the city’s brightest entrepreneurs, tech junkies, and bloggers, who are doing it, have done it or want to make their ideas happen here. The goal of the event is to connect BC’s growing community of Internet and new media leaders with investors and other trailblazers across Canada and abroad. (more)

@arvid shares a bundle of Hoottreats in the Nederlands

One of the HootSuite Learning graduates – and a big HootSuite fan – Arvid took a photo of some HootSuite swag we sent his way. We hope to see a can of Dutch beer in that coozie soon (yikes did Owly go without an Orange shirt!)

@Mini_Yum_Yum - Hola Owly! Nice 2 see u enjoying the sun – send postcard soon

Wish you were here with Senor Owly spending some time hanging out in the sun? Good thing the sombrero provides ample shade!

@kardboard says he, “Found the Beta Version of HootSuite”

Contrary to popular belief, Hooter The Booter is not a relative of Owly’s… Well, maybe a forty-second cousin, who knows?

Bonus, Blackfoot Bettie has a great pic of Hoot swag.

Contribute

Have you seen Owly somewhere else in the wild? Share your pictures in the comments below. Another way to share your pictures with us is via Flickr by tagging your photos with HootSuite.

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Adobe MAX is right around the corner and we’re super excited to start showing off the latest and greatest that AIR has to offer. There’s going to be a ton of exciting sessions covering desktop, mobile devices, and now the newest screen, TVs.

We’ve got two sessions specifically aimed at getting our customers excited about and educated in what AIR for TV is going to offer them. We also have a lab that will give you a chance to learn how to actually develop AIR for TV applications. Plus, as usual, we’ll have a couple of surprises up our sleeve that you won’t want to miss!

Our two sessions will help you learn two things: first, the ecosystem around TVs, Blu-ray Players, and set top boxes; and, second how to actually use the new AIR for TV platform to build and optimize applications that run on those devices. Expect these to be info-packed, fun, and engaging sessions to learn about a whole new screen to take your apps and content.

Flash Platform for TV: A New Ecosystem by Aditya Bansod (Principal Product Manager)
Join us for a sneak peek of Flash Player on Google TV and how Adobe AIR will soon power a whole new class of devices in the digital home, helping Adobe Flash Platform developers build experiences for an entirely new market of consumers. This session will provide an exclusive first look, with product demos of Google TV and AIR for TV

How to Develop & Optimize AIR for TV Applications by Don Woodward (Principal Scientist, Consumer Electronics)
Learn how to build engaging applications for the TV screen using Adobe AIR. Special focus will be made on design considerations and optimizations for building applications for the television.

In addition to the two sessions above, we will also be hosting three hands-on labs at MAX. You won’t want to miss these! We’ll be giving you all the tools you’ll need to walk out of the lab a super-charged TV developer.

Lab: Developing Your First AIR for TV Application by Don Woodward (Principal Scientist, Consumer Electronics)
Learn in this lab how to build engaging applications for the TV screen that run on Adobe AIR. Special focus will be given to design considerations and optimizations for building applications for the television.

So join us at MAX, sign up for the sessions, and learn what Adobe has been doing the last year to open up a whole new ecosystem for our community.

Aditya Bansod
Principal Product Manager

With our upcoming Adobe MAX (October 23rd-27th) only about a month away, I thought this would be a perfect time to highlight our annual conference and call your attention to several sessions that developers and designers building AIR applications might find particularly valuable.

For our customers using Adobe technologies, MAX is often one of the most exciting times of the year since Adobe often launches new products and sneaks never seen before technology. MAX represents an excellent opportunity for our customers to learn about the latest development in Adobe technology, network with peers in the industry and connect with members of our development team. For development teams at Adobe, it is also a thrilling event as months and often years of hard work can be finally presented to our enthusiastic customers.

This is my third year as a camp manager for the AIR track of MAX and, without question, I have never been more excited by the quality of talks and forthcoming announcements from Adobe teams. As the AIR runtime expands to support more platforms ranging from desktops to mobile devices and TVs, multi-screen application development is not only becoming a reality but a market expectation.

The following sessions, many of which will be presented by members of the AIR product or evangelism team, will likely be of interest to developers building apps for the desktop, mobile devices and, soon, TVs:

1. Introduction to Adobe AIR for Android by Arno Gourdol (Director of Engineering, Adobe AIR)
   Learn how to quickly build an entire Google Android application from scratch using Adobe AIR. This session will provide a high-level overview of how to integrate with several device APIs, including the accelerometer for games and geolocation for location-based services. We’ll also describe how to package and sell your application on the Google Apps Marketplace.
2. Developing Well-Behaved Android Applications using Adobe AIR by David Knight (Computer Scientist, Adobe AIR) and Ben Garney (Developer, PushButton Labs)
   Learn how to tune your applications to provide an optimal user experience within the performance limitations of a device’s hardware and software. We’ll share tips and tricks for how to build Android applications powered by Adobe AIR that respond quickly. Discover best practices for how to troubleshoot performance problems such as rendering bottlenecks and occasionally connected networks. 
3. Build Your First Android Application in 90 Minutes with Adobe AIR by Lee Brimelow (Platform Evangelist)
   Learn how to build your first Android application in under 90 minutes using the latest versions of Adobe AIR, Flex, and Flash Builder. Topics will include how to build a basic user interface, accessing a camera, displaying HTML content, and tips on troubleshooting bugs. By the end of the session, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to build an application and upload it to the Android Marketplace.
4. Flash Platform for TV: A New Ecosystem by Aditya Bansod (Principal Product Manager, Adobe AIR)
   Join us for a sneak peek on Google TV and how Adobe AIR will soon power a whole new class of devices in the digital home, helping Adobe Flash Platform developers build experiences for an entirely new market of consumers. This session will provide an exclusive first look, with product demos of Google TV and AIR running in the digital home.
5. How to Build Adobe AIR Applications That Seamlessly Connect to Cloud Services by James Ward (Manager, Evangelism)
   See why cloud-based storage and processing are driving more and more developers to take advantage of remote services. In this session, you’ll learn through a series of code samples how to use Adobe AIR to connect to these services, including Facebook, Twitter, and more. By the end of this session, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to connect to several cloud services for desktop and mobile applications. 
6. Adobe AIR Code Camp by Duane Nickull (Senior Manager, Evangelism) and James Ward (Manager, Evangelism)
   Attend this mega-lab for a comprehensive, hands-on dive into Adobe AIR for Flex 4 developers. You’ll learn how to use the latest features of AIR by building several applications on your own computer, and leave with source code for more than 20 applications. We’ll cover using the microphone class, writing to a local drive, launching a native process, and more. The lab includes ...

The skimboards and surfboards are packed away, the kids are back in school, and HootSuite is on the road to share messages of social sharing to audiences around the world. From revolutionary gardeners to IT professionals, you can catch a HootSuite speaker or a HootSuite-sponsored event at venues near and far.

The HootSuite Events page has the full line-up from Vancouver to Mumbai, but here are a few noteworthy impending gigs:

Helping the Helpers

HootSuite and Zendesk are sponsoring a presentation series by Christopher Dancy – a specialist in using social media for IT service management, help desks, customer service departments, etc.

Here’s where you can catch Mr. Dancy’s HDI Western Road Tour presentation:

• Phoenix Area: September 8 at 11:00 a.m. at Apollo Group
• Los Angeles Area: September 9 at 11:30 a.m. at BT
• Orange County Area: September 9 at 6:30 p.m. at OC
• San Diego Area: September 10 at 11:30 a.m. at Gen-Probe
• San Francisco/Silicon Valley Area: September 16 at 11:00 a.m. at White & Lee, LLP
• Central Valley Area: September 16 at 5:30 p.m. at 1010 Building
• Sacramento Area: September 17 at 7:30 a.m. at Robert Hall Technology

Here’s more background from the press release: Unprecedented HDI Western Region Road Tour to Present Hot IT Service and Support Topics, plus a snippet to whet your appetite:

Dancy is the founder of ServiceSphere™, which is recognized as the most influential ITIL and ITSM Twitter organization globally. ServiceSphere is the first ITSM organization to market with offerings combining social media and ITSM. Dancy, who is known as @servicesphere on Twitter, has more than 20 years of IT experience that includes serving as a service desk manager, presales engineer, best practices consultant, and a sales and marketing executive. Through ServiceSphere, he has committed himself to helping IT organizations successfully adopt ITSM tools and ITMM practices.

The HDI Western Region Road Tour is being sponsored by two of the social support space’s most ground-breaking vendors: HootSuite and Zendesk. HootSuite is an innovative company that enables organizations to use social Web tools to schedule and publish messages to multiple social networks, as well as monitor results and efficiently participate in conversations.

Revolutionary Gardeners

HootSuite is excited to sponsor Beetnik Media’s Garden Writers Association party in Dallas — this is an event for gardening bloggers organized by Adriana (Anarchy in the Garden) and Fern (Life on the Balcony).

This event will bring garden writers and green social media people together to network and have fun at Mondule’s in Hyatt Regency. They say “It’s free. Please, invite your garden writer friends, the more the merrier!”

Date: September 10, 2010 from  7:00pm – 11:30pm

Blurb: Come to this cool party sponsored by HootSuite — A party with a hosted bar and delicious appetizers for the Garden Writers attending the 2010 Garden Writers Association conference in Dallas who will come to network with other garden writers and garden/green living/social media company representatives in an intimate, relaxed setting. And to have fun!

Follow: #GWA hashtag on Twitter.

RSVP at: http://www.facebook.com/BeetnikMedia

Deets: http://www.beetnikmedia.com/gwa-party/

More Hoots

These aren’t the only events going on either — Here are a few more HootSuite related events:

Twitter for PR & Marketing (London, UK)

HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes is tripping across the pond to speak at this event for marketing pros.

Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010 from 9:00am – 5:05pm (BST)

Blurb: Join your fellow communications professionals at a dedicated Twitter conference for the PR industry. The will address the opportunities and challenges presented by the fast rise of this powerful new medium.

RSVP at: http://www.thesocialmediaacademy.co.uk/basket

Deets: http://www.thesocialmediaacademy.co.uk/product/discover-the-future-that-twitter-holds-for-pr-marketing/187

BarCamp Jonesboro (Arkansas, US)

This year BarCamp Jonesboro in Arkansas is sponsored by HootSuite.

Date: Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 8:00am – 7:00pm (CDT)

Blurb: Hosted on the campus of ASU, sponsored by leading-edge technology companies and local businesses, staffed and organized by local volunteers and featuring presentations by you and your peers. BarCamp Jonesboro is a full day of technology, creativity, networking, and education.

RSVP at: http://barcampjonesboro.eventbrite.com

Deets: http://www.barcampjonesboro.com

Social Media Camp (Victoria, Canada)

HootSuite Community Director Dave will speak about “Power tuning campaigns with HootSuite”

Date: Sunday, October 3, 2010, 2010 from 8:00am – 6:15pm (PT)

Blurb: Social outreach ...

Disney Preschool Time Online is an online destination, which offers rich learning adventures that automatically adjust to children’s skill levels through interactive play. The application offers an ad-free,  full-screen environment that can be password protected, making it safe for kids to play.

Powered by Adobe AIR, Preschool Time Online includes a 14-day free trial. According to the website, new content is made available every two weeks. In addition to engaging content featuring popular Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, parents can track how their children are progressing across a range of learning areas including reading, math, Spanish, thinking skills, social skills and computer skills.

To see the application for yourself, you can download it now from the Disney Preschool Time Online website. Our congratulations to the team at Disney that developed an amazing educational application!

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The HootSuite Translation Project spawned from a desire to offer HootSuite to users in their preferred language. But localization has some challenges!

For example, many of the words in HootSuite are Twitter/socialweb-specific with no “usual” translation, plus translating the words without context is confusing and inaccurate. So, to gather accurate translations quickly, we asked “Who knows HootSuite better than our own fans?”

The obvious answer encouraged us to ask HootSuite users for a hand to localize the social media dashboard on all platforms for their neighbors and colleagues.

Since launching on August 27th , we’ve eagerly watched the amazing progress made and have begun cheering for various countries, not unlike the World Cup or Tour de France.

Throughout the day, we take a look at the leaderboard and watch as Italian and Portuguese pull ahead of Dutch and German But hold on, Spanish is catching up too and where did the and French come from — wow!

We’ll address a few issues of style and clarity in a forthcoming post including tips for working with variable strings and we’ll be adding more language coordinators soon — thanks to all who applied! We’re certainly thrilled with the quality of the credentials and will put you to work very soon.

We aren’t the only ones who are excited about this project either — here are a few posts to share:

The Next Web – Hootsuite needs your lingua franca: Help with crowd-sourced translation of Hootsuite

Prolific tech-journalist Tris Hussey explains the gist of the project to TNW readers:

That doesn’t go far enough in a the Internet today. A huge percentage of people online don’t speak English and really appreciate when apps are in their own language. Hootsuite is already a huge hit in Japan and elsewhere, but they want to branch out. Hootsuite wants to be localized in as many languages as possible, and they are asking for your help to do this. Yep, Hootsuite is turning to crowd-sourced translation.

{snip}

Hootsuite is turning to its users, just like open-source projects like WordPress do when they need translation help, for their help in translating all the parts of Hootsuite so people around the world can feel the warmth of the owl’s feathery hug. The folks at Hootsuite are even going a set further by letting the community decide which languages get priority for development and launch.

e-Communica – Hootsuite lanza su proyecto colaborativo de traducción (Spanish)

Rallying Spanish speakers, this post “HootSuite launches collaborative translation project” which when auto-translated reads:

Once registered, users have at their disposal a control panel from which you can choose the project you work (web client, Android, Blackberry and iPhone), and language and display the number of suggestions made, reviewed, pending and accepted.

For the web version in Spanish, are pending to translate 6948 words and the time for users interested in the initiative and are working on the 8% of them. Furthermore, to certify the quality of the texts, HootSuite is selecting qualified coordinators to approve the final translations.

Il Giornale di Pozzallo - HootSuite chiede aiuto per tradurre la piattaforma (Italian)

Italian news site Il Giornale di Pozzallo spreads the word of localization in Italy in an article (auto-translated) “HootSuite asks for help to translate the platform.” Incidentally, Italian is making great progress:

HootSuite, one of the clients business more attractive to social media, has decided to offer languages other than English. Ryan Holmes (CEO HootSuite) has forwarded an e-mail to members of the newsletter to ask their help. As was the case with Facebook and Twitter, HootSuite prepared interface for localization in crowdsourcing: users will be to translate the panel and mobile applications HootSuite.

Technoblog – HootSuite pede ajuda para fazer tradução (Portuguese)

A push for Portuguese in this auto-translated post “HootSuite asks for help do translation” … and the passionate Hoot-fans in Brazil are rocking out the translations too:

The HootSuite is a very nice web interface for anyone beyond the resources so basic that Twitter offers. Currently available only in English and Japanese, the site is calling people who “speak the language geek in multiple languages to” help the translation service.

Small Words in Welsh:

With recent announcements ranging from listing on the US Apps.gov to the launch of the HootSuite Translation Project, there is plenty of commentary to share.

But when you add in the nuanced iPhone update and more interest in the business world about efficiently using social media for listening, there is enough news to peruse for an afternoon.

Here are some recent stand-outs. Certainly, follow HootSuite’s social bookmarks for the full feed of HootSuite-related coverage and/or follow @hootwatch to be the early bird everyday.

The Next Web – HootSuite gets political and “Bumps” up iPhone app features.

TNW shares the news about some pro features in the HootSuite iPhone update:

Now on to the iPhone updates, which are quite impressive.  … But the biggest new feature added to HootSuite’s iPhone app?  Now users can utilize Bump to quickly add followers.  A great new addition to an already fantastic iPhone app.

Jeff Cormier also mentions the addition of HootSuite to the Apps.Gov catalog as the first social media dashboard:

This is great news for those government agencies that want to use a social media dashboard without jumping through too many extra hoops, approval queues, or application processes.

The Globe and Mail – Media moguls made easy

Amber Mac describes different ways to monitor your social media headlines and conversations that are coming at 100 miles a minute:

For the past couple of years, the popular micro-messaging site [Twitter] has increasingly become the go-to destination for headlines, keeping its users informed about what the world is talking about.

Aside from using a Twitter monitoring tool such as HootSuite, it can be cumbersome to go through pages of tweets to get the gist of what’s on the minds of the people you’re following (for example, I follow more than 3,000 people, which makes it nearly impossible to keep track of conversations).

Bloomberg Business Week — Timesavers to Manage Your Social Media Presence

Eric Groves (SVP of Constant Contact) suggests some efficiency advice:

Use tools to help — As the number of people you’re connected with on social media sites grows, trying to keep up with the constant flow of updates is like drinking from a proverbial fire hose. There are a number of free tools available that can help you keep up without drowning in information, including:

HootSuite is a service that lets you track all of your social media networks, schedule updates to go out automatically throughout the day, and set alerts if certain terms or phrases are mentioned.

Mashable — Readers Choose Freemium Over Ad-Supported Business Model

Ben Parr offers results of a poll about ways to grow companies:

Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen several web companies switch to freemium business models, offering free versions of their services but providing additional features and functionality at tiered prices. Hootsuite and Slideshare are just two companies that have recently switched, but there are many more turning to the freemium business model to generate revenue.

We were interested in the trend, so we made it the subject of this week’s Web Faceoff, our weekly series where we pit two opposing technology products or ideas against each other for your vote. We asked you on Monday which web business model you preferred.

Your winner: Freemium. With 36.88% of the vote (461 votes), Freemium was the preferred business model of Mashable readers. Ad-supported received a 24.4% share (305 votes), while 34.24% of you (428 votes) said it was a tie.

Inc.com — 5 Secrets of Highly Effective Twitter Users

Minda Zetlin discusses reasons for scheduling Twitter updates for companies marketing around the world:

Most Twitter users don’t look at tweets that are more than a couple of hours old, so if you want people to actually read your posts, you should time them for when you have the largest live audience.

When is that? “If you have followers all over the world, Eastern Time during business hours is the best time to tweet,” Sansevieri says. “Generally, past noon Pacific Time is less useful. Retweeting starts to drop off toward the end of the day.” Although this is a good general rule, your customers’ habits may be different, so try experimenting, ...

Time flies! Already our little mobile Owl has grown one version older as HootSuite for iPhone celebrates version 1.1.6  for both the Full and Lite versions.

But what do you get an Owl for such a big day? Well we all chipped in and gave our feathered friend some shiny new features — which we suspect you’ll be excited about too.

This mobile Owl enjoys making life easier and these new tools will help you be even friendlier.

HootSuite for iPhone -- Now even Friendlier

Contacts are Special

These people we call “followers” are reaching out to learn your thoughts and actions from morning beverage selection to philosophical discourse — now you can get to know these people on the other end of the Twitters with refined “Contact Management” allowing you to search for user to follow.

Tap the all-new Contacts tab on the main menu to quickly search for people and view profiles. Simply type a friend’s name or nickname and HootSuite will find the most relevant person on Twitter. Then you can follow her in just a couple of clicks, plus add to your lists. Try it out and see how much friendlier you become, instantly.

List O’ Rama

“Lists are the new follow,” says Owly. And now, list management is elegantly integrated into the iPhone. Lists are a powerful way to follow just the stuff and people ‘you really, really care about’ in a simplified view. Within the Lists tab, you can:

• Add new lists — public or private
• Manage existing lists — add and remove people
• Modify lists — change names and descriptions
• View lists created (or subscribed to) by others
• Subscribe to lists created by others (even secretly)
• Save lists as a new tab with a quick click
• Read followed lists in a unique tab

Additionally, lists are a way to share the social affection as a sort of endorsement for your Twitter faves.

Bump, Owly Style

No longer must you fiddle with misspelling weird Twitter nicknames, typing at meetings and wasting time! Instead, just “Bump” to follow.

HootSuite for iPhone’s Bump feature has graduated from the Lab and is ready to make adding people to your social networks easier than ever.

Simply “Bump” your iPhones with a your new friend and the little owl will take care of everything else. (Note: Please, don’t get *too* excited and break your phones).

Even Shinier

To impress your eyes, everything in the new version is even shinier for iPhone 4 users –  each graphic from the icons to the interface elements are now in full hi-res so your phone will sparkle as brightly as your retinas will displays.

Custom Touches

Perhaps we are a tiny bit obsessive about making the app perfect for your tastes. Now with a list of new preference settings, you can adjust settings for a custom experience, including:

• Font size from 13 – 20pt
• Avatar size from none to large
• Geotagging — auto on/off
• Photo upload quality + save to library
• Re-tweet style — classic or native
• Timestamp — relative or absolute

Now you can really tune HootSuite to look and act as you’ve always wanted. If something is still missing, it might appear in the next release. Remember you can offer feature requests and encourage your fellow enthusiast to vote it up.

Mayor of Everywhere

It’s important to have a bit of playtime and the popular social-geo-location “check-in” game Foursquare is ready for your leisure time in HootSuite.

Just click the “menu” arrow from the compose box and choose “geo-location” and send your coordinates to your pals.

Whether you are at the pub or the park, your friend will flock towards you — check-in frequently and you’ll earn badges … and you’ll want these badges.

More from the Owls

Owls do manage to sleep occasionally … but all waking hours are spent making this application the fave tool in your app toolbox.

Always be the early bird by following @HootSuiteiPhone for the latest updates and news. And if you have any problems or concerns, visit the fully-loaded Help Desk and/or follow @HootSuiteHelp.

Download from Apple App Store:

HootSuite for iPhone
HootSuite for iPhone Lite

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Ready for Service

Here at the HQ, we are proud to be the first and only social media dashboard in the Apps.Gov catalog and are pleased to announce that HootSuite is officially approved* has released “federal friendly terms of service” and is now listed as a social media dashboard application for United States government agencies. {Note: See clarification/update below}

This designation means that we’ve worked with the GSA New Media team to amend the HootSuite Terms of Service to address a few specific requirements specific for US federal agencies. Now these agencies can use HootSuite without jumping through extra hoops, approval queues, or application processes.

The official GSA New Media Twitter account published the announcement to alert the various agencies:

Social for the People

Today, people are reaching out in all sorts of different ways through multiple social channels including Twitter, Facebook, and more. And governments are no different.

Smart agencies, task forces and departments are effectively utilizing the same efficient and inexpensive communications tools which “regular folks” use for socializing with friends. Who’d have predicted that one day tools like Twitter would play a role in international diplomacy as well as delivering basic services and information?

Gov Watch

Here are some of the innovative USA government agencies, authorities and organizations who chose HootSuite as their social media dashboard — and you’ll find many others on the @hootwatch/gov-ngo list.

• @whitehouse
• @USArmy
• @TheJusticeDept
• @ArmedwScience
• @usairforce
• @USNavy
• @NavyNews
• @americagov
• @tsablogteam
• @smithsonian
• @Oil_Spill_2010
• @BusinessDotGov
• @foodsafetygov
• @NatlParkService
• @EPAgov
• @fema
• @americagov
• @FS_Region1
• @HUDNews
• @ConnectStateGov

Any other US Gov agencies flying with HootSuite yet? Send us a note @hootwatch to say hello. Of course, we’re also watching municipal, regional and international governments and enjoy seeing the unique ways you are using HootSuite.

Has your organization conducted a successful social media-powered campaign using HootSuite? We enjoy hearing about these and making case studies. Let us know your ideas.

* UPDATE FROM APPS.GOV

Point of clarification regarding what it means for applications to be on the free social media page on apps.gov.

First, no application is “officially approved as a web application for United States government agencies.” Being listed on the apps.gov social media page means that the provider has amended their standard TOS to not comply with federal law.

While these TOS amendments resolve the major legal issues of the sign-up process, clarify expectations, and set the stage for productive use of these services, agencies must still comply with laws and regulations on security, privacy, accessibility, records retention, ethical use, and other specific agency policies and requirements when they use the tools. Agencies are advised to seek the advice of their counsel on whether the TOS is legally appropriate for their use.

See http://apps.gov and click on the Social Media Apps section in the top navigation for more information.

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Localization and Blackberry 1st Look

Plenty of news from HootSuite recently so you know the Owls at the HQ aren’t slowing down for the summer. Today, HootSuite announces a global crowd-sourced project to translate and localize HootSuite for users around the world. Plus, we’re sharing a sneak peek of the coveted Blackberry app.

Crowd-Sourced Translation

Do you speak geek in multiple languages? Great! We want you to be a star in your community by joining the HootSuite translation project.

So far, HootSuite is localized in English and Japanese, but with updates coming in from all around the world (including far-flung locales like Palau and the Faroe Islands), we want to make life a wee bit Hoot-ier for everyone.

To accomplish this mission, we need help from a few wise Owls to play the translate game:

1. Sign up for the HootSuite translation project
2. Choose your languages and projects
3. Submit appropriate words for approval
4. Bask in the glow of your good deeds

We’re starting with a few popular tongues but welcome your suggestions about which language we should add next. We’re also curious to see which language will be first to go live? Portuguese and Dutch are safe bets but maybe Russian or Chinese will storm to the top of the leader board. Whichever is the winner, expect to see a custom Owly design to celebrate.

Fascinated by linguistic nuance? Apply to be a language translation coordinator which means you’ll give the thumbs-up on the submitted translation candidates before pushing live to the applause of thousands.

Watching the Hoots

Some fans want to know *everything* about HootSuite. If you seek knowledge, consider following @HootWatch– a back-channel account which shares a firehose of HootSuite media mentions and fan reactions.

Curious about who’s using HootSuite? Choose a few @HootWatch lists to follow well-know brands, famous artists, government agencies, education institutions who choose HootSuite for their social media forays.

Plug-ins, Extensions and Apps

While the web version is the most-used variation of HootSuite’s social media dashboard, you can also run HootSuite as a standalone app, add browser extensions, or utilize the Hootlet to enhance your experience.

The Hootlet is the social media aficionado’s secret weapon. Add this bookmarklet to quickly create an update from any web page. A single click pops open a messages already pre-populated with a short link and the page’s <title> tag. You can then edit, schedule or send like any other message. Also available as a browser extension for Firefox and Chrome.

Grab the apps and learn all about these mighty tools at the Help Desk.

A Very Berry Owl

Click for a larger view of HootSuite for Blackberry®

Blackberry fans are adamantly vocal about their desire to Hoot from their beloved ‘berrys — and the wait is almost over! Soon fans everywhere will have a ‘berry-ready Owl with Facebook and Twitter in your hand — just don’t squish it!

To quench your desire, here are the first screenshots of HootSuite for Blackberry to share with your colleagues.

The pilot batch of HootSuite for Blackberry beta users are testing the first iteration with more invites going out soon (we haven’t forgotten about the thousands of you who signed up to test).

Haven’t added your name to the beta list yet? Get on board by signing-up for the HootSuite for Blackberry beta program to be ahead of the curve.

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