Hootsuite main office

Hootsuite was founded in 2008 by Ryan Holmes. The company operates a social media management platform. As of 2021, the company has more than 16 million users in over 175 countries.

Holmes wanted a tool that would help him manage multiple social media networks at his digital services agency, Invoke Media. 

After 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.

In December 2009, Hootsuite spun off from Invoke Media and launched officially as an independent company, Hootsuite Media, Inc.

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

In September 2020, Hootsuite came under widespread criticism over its agreement with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) , which was made just weeks after allegations of forced hysterectomies at ICE detention centers surfaced.

 Following public pressure, the company stated that it had 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.

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.

Hootsuite maintains a corporate office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.