Which Tool is Best for You?
With all these different tools available to consolidate your social networking activities, which is best for your individual needs?
If all you care about is cross-posting to multiple social networks, then Ping.fm is the way to go. It’s web-based, so there’s no software to install; in addition, it lets you post to a greater variety of sites than any other tool. You can’t, however, view posts with Ping.fm; for that you need a different tool.
If you want to both post to multiple networks and read messages from those networks, then you want either TweetDeck or Seesmic. Personally, I’m a TweetDeck fan, but Seesmic does just about everything TweetDeck does, so it’s a bit of a toss up. That said, if you want to go the web-based route instead of installing any software, then Seesmic Web is the best choice.
Finally, if you’re a marketing professional, you owe it to yourself to check out HootSuite. This tool is probably overkill for the casual user, but its ability to track and analyze social networking activity is a big plus for pro users. (And if you go this route, make sure you try the free Basic version first, before you invest in the $5.99 Pro version.)