HootSuite enables organizations to use the social web to launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow their audience, and distribute targeted messages across multiple channels. Via HootSuite's social media dashboard, groups can collaboratively schedule updates to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress and other social networks via web, desktop or mobile platforms. Teams also can track campaign results and industry trends. Basic membership is free; a pro membership costs $5.99 a month.

With TweetDeck, users can customize their Twitter experience with groups, columns, saved searches and automatic updates to help them stay updated about interesting people and topics. TweetDeck, which is free, allows users to track what others are saying about them, and give updates via tweeting, sharing photos, videos and links.

There are more than 550,000 active applications on the Facebook platform, according to social media company. The number of registered OAuth applications is now at almost 300,000, Twitter said. Add LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace and other social media sites, and the choices become almost overwhelming. Social media professionals, marketing executives and individuals, therefore, have a plethora of options. In many cases, there are competing apps available so if one tool does not fit the bill, there could well be another app that exactly meets a user's needs.

After all, without add-on tools, it's all-too-easy to get lost in social media. Apps that help launch and manage campaigns, that simultaneously post to multiple social media sites, and eliminate marketers or unwanted followers can boost productivity and effectiveness. Other apps simplify sharing, allowing users to easily send photos, videos, links and text to specific groups or individuals.

Looking to cut through the noise of millions of Twitter accounts? Twollo is designed to help Twitter users find a more targeted audience for their posts. There is a four-day free trial. After that, Twollo costs $5.99 a month for five key words; $9.99 a month for 10 keywords; $19.99 per month for 20 keywords, and $59.99 month for unlimited keywords. Annual subscriptions also are available for 5, 10 and 20 keywords.

A free service, Ping.fm lets users simply update their status on various social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. Ping.fm, which was acquired by Seesmic at the beginning of the year, supports mobile apps, messaging and email, as well as more than 100 web and desktop apps from third-party developers, the company said.

Gowalla, a free app, lets users share the places they go with friends and contacts, using posts, pictures and videos. Social media mavens can connect with Gowalla via Facebook and Twitter. Gowalla currently offers native applications for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm and iPad. Support for other phones may be provided in the future by third-party developers, the company said.

Shareaholic, a free tool for Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and other browsers, lets users share any page, anytime, with more than 100 services like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Mail and WordPress. The tool lets registered users simplify their bookmarks, and find new materials as they arrive on the web, according to Shareaholic.

A free tool, Hellotxt lets users read, update and organize their social media accounts over more than 50 networks, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and Tumblr. Users can post photos, audio or video to multiple social networks and services by sending one email from their phone or any web email client. Hellotxt also works with instant messaging services such as GTalk, MSN and Yahoo Messenger.

Thing Labs' Brizzly helps people stay abreast of hot topics, via the Brizzly Guide. It allows Twitter users to create lists to organize followers, shows the full in-line links from URL shortening and includes and videos photos from photo sharing services like Flickr and YouTube. In Facebook, Brizzly users can view and update their status, wall posts, comments and likes. Brizzly Picnics let invited participants privately share and communicate.

In September, the beta release, version 1, of ÜberTwitter was released. The app, designed for the BlackBerry, is a full-featured Twitter client that lets users upload pictures to a site solely for ÜberTwitter users, and automatically update their locations based on their smartphones' communication with the cell tower. ÜberTwitter users also can send videos embedded in their tweets, see all people who are tweeting nearby, and optionally update their Google Talk status with their most recent tweet, thereby reaching beyond Twitter followers. A free version is available or a full subscription costs $4.99

SocialOomph is a free social networking tool that lets you optimize your Twitter account. You can do a lot many things using SocialOomph which you can’t do using any other free Twitter tool or direct from your Twitter client.

SocialOomph is easy to use free software to enhance Twitter. It lets you schedule your tweets either by specifying a specific hour or minute. You can create bulk tweets and set time for their scheduling using SocialOomph by distributing them over specific days and time ranges using this free Twitter tool.

This free social networking tool also lets you vet your followers. SocialOomph lets you manually approve new followers by providing you with a list of people who want to follow you and giving their information regarding their tweets and profiles. The free software to enhance Twitter lets you know about people who have been ignored by many SocialOomph users so that you can see to it whether you want to add them or not and rethink about it.