It has been revealed that social media management system HootSuite has acquired its former rival Seesmic, in what is described as ‘a logical step in the lifecycle of both companies’, wired.com reports.
HootSuite’s CEO Ryan Holmes said in a statement that he ‘has a lot of respect’ for Seesmic, which carries out such functions as video-commenting on Twitter and customer relationship management.
CEO Loic Le Meur commented on the move, saying: ”We are thrilled to welcome Seesmic’s users into the HootSuite family.”
Le Meur said he had been ‘a big fan’ of Holmes and HootSuite and hopes to build on the brand’s success as a unit. He added that he was ‘excited’ for Seesmic’s users to be a part of the new venture.
Le Meur’s comments suggest that Seesmic will be shut down instead of being ran by Hootsuite, according to itproportal.com which may be beneficial considering Hootsuite has a much larger fanbase than Seesmic.
The move came after Twitter announced crack-downs on ‘copy-cat clients’ on the site, which leaves Seesmic vulnerable. It also enables Hootsuite to quickly acquire the customers that were using Seesmic’s service.
Hootsuite currently has 4.5 million customers, however it is in doubt how many of them are paying for the service. Seesmic currently has ‘hundreds of thousands of users’, according to Le Meur, which will now be transferred to Hootsuite.
