HootSuite refreshes its Hootlet Chrome extension to help you share things from the Web

HootSuite has rolled out a massive update to its Hootlet extension for Chrome, as the social media-sharing platform looks to infiltrate your everyday browsing.

HootSuite first launched Hootlet back in 2009 for Chrome and Firefox, offering an easier way to share a link through the service. You hit the Hootlet button (a small owl icon on your toolbar) on any given webpage, and your tweet or Facebook message was good to go, replete with a shortened URL.

Additionally, you could also customize your content-sharing through highlighting text or select images within the compose box, while you could also auto-schedule your messaging. But that was pretty much it.

Hootlet’s Web push

The new extension only applies to Chrome for now, and includes a number of significant updates.

For example, it now features Google Maps integration, so that when you enter an address, Hootlet automatically displays ‘Tweets near here’ – essentially, social messages from others who have sent Tweets in the locale. And the new Yelp integration comes in handy when you search for a business, with Hootlet showing Twitter results that name-check that particular company, including tweets that were sent in the surrounding area.

Additionally, HootSuite now lets you share multimedia content directly from the browser, so that when you visit a page that contains a YouTube video, Flickr photo, Instagram photo, Pinterest photo, or Google Image, you can share them by mousing over the image and clicking ‘Share with HootSuite’.

Additionally, it’s now easier to customize Hootlet by turning specific options on and off, and you can now share posts on Twitter and Facebook via HootSuite directly through the social network websites themselves, with a ‘Share with HootSuite’ button now showing up in your Facebook news stream and next to tweets, as well as inside Twitter’s compose box.

The all-new Hootlet for Chrome is available to download now.

➤ Hootlet | Chrome

Feature Image Credit – KARL-JOSEF HILDENBRAND/AFP/Getty Images