Third-party Twitter client Hootsuite has just released an update that takes it pretty much head and shoulders above the likes of Seesmic and Tweetdeck, amongst others.

The company had already made a substantial update recently, with the introduction of HTML5 compatibility on its Twitter client. This update included site analytics via Google, geo-search options for local tweets, drag-and-drop image uploads and InstaLoad for better performance issues all round.

Now, however, it’s upped its game considerably and offers the best Twitter experience for business and personal use.

What’s New at Hootsuite

Today’s update takes Hootsuite from being a still great personal Twitter client to a fully loaded business Twitter client as well. Instead of just being another cool way to use Twitter, Hootsuite gets you (as a business) closer to the mindsets of your customers by positioning Hootsuite as a social CRM package.

So what are these goodies?

Filter by Influence

Using the Klout algorithm to determine how influential a Twitter user is, you can determine how a certain user’s information is listened to. Do they get a lot of retweets; are they speaking with the types of audience you’re after; do they have a wide reach? This is the kind of information that’s perfect for a social marketing or outreach campaign.

Filter by Keywords

Kind of like Twitter Search but specifically on filtered keywords, this allows you to track conversations relevant to your business, and that of your competitors. Think of how you can hijack their conversations if they’re not looking after their customers.

Follower Insights

This is, quite simply, an awesome addition, and lets you know where your connections are elsewhere online. Using a mix of usernames and public information, you can check other social accounts as well as what their business skill sets are. This could be a great recruiting tool, or simply a great way to enhance current relationships.

Organization View

Along with CoTweet, Hootsuite is one of the best Twitter clients when it comes to having teams from the same business working on the platform. Great for customer service or tech team support. With organization view, you can find and add team members more easily and make the whole team/user experience offering better-suited to your business goals.

Hoot to Zendesk Support

Tying in with the team option, customer service issues raised via Twitter can now become full-on raised tickets to that particular team. You can then track response time and how well a situation was dealt with – perfect for analyzing internal procedures and building customer/brand loyalty.

I’ve been using Hootsuite for the past month or so now, having been a die-hard Seesmic user previously. I still love Seesmic and the user experience it offers, but with the updates Hootsuite have made, it’s a different ball-game altogether.

And with premium accounts coming soon for those that want enhanced teams, analytics, social feeds, support and more, it looks like Hootsuite is going to be the measuring stick that other Twitter clients need to start measuring up to.

What’s your take? Big step for Hootsuite or not enough to make you change from your current client? And what would you like to see from its upcoming premium account?