• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 6, 2012

Social media management platform HooteSuite has acquired social applications developer Seesmic, the companies announced Thursday. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under their agreement, HooteSuite says it will continue to support Seesmic while switching business users over to its own broader social media toolset.

At the same time, Seesmic's consumer users are being encouraged to go directly to Twitter to meet their social media needs. Twitter itself has discouraged the use of independent Twitter apps through a new set of restrictions recently imposed on developers.

HooteSuite is inviting Seesmic's business customers to try HooteSuite Pro for a a 30-day trial, after which the service costs $9.99 a month. HootSuite's platform allows marketers to manage and track their presence on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other social networks. Its clients include McDonald's, PepsiCo, Virgin, Fox and Sony Music.

HootSuite says it has about 5 million users across the free and paid versions of its service. A company spokesperson said it's not clear whether the Seesmic brand will be maintained but that all services will unified in one platform. Best known as a Twitter client, Seesmic most recently made a push into the customer relations management business, with apps tied to Salesforce.com.