Currently HSU sells certificate programs without telling the user that they have to pay a continual monthly fee to keep their certificate that amounts to $264 a year if you want to be a certified professional. This is misleadig to the consumer when most certificate programs at real universities are set up as follows: 1) Enroll 2) Pay 3) Complete courses 4) Pass 5) Certificate is the students for eternity (without a monthly fee)

HSU sales program is misleading to students, users and social media professionals. This sales cycle needs to be rethought and adjusted to create true professionals certified in HS - not just a subscription scam created by the company.

I've been a Hootsuite U (HU) member for a while. I decided to you my Android tablet to view content for the first time. The experience was really bad.

Please take a look at HU from a mobile user's point of view.

It may look better on an iPad, but on my Motorola Xoom running ICS and Chrome the navigation is very frustrating.

Also, it's very hard to get into HU on a mobile device. The link to access it is on a menu that's only shown on a menu that's hidden behind a mouse-over event. Not a good design for mobile devices.

I started with your free trial and from everything I had heard about Hootsuite, I had every intention of staying with the pro version. But after spending hours trying to learn about using it I gave up and downgraded my account. I know that you can purchase Hootsuite University, but I don't think someone should have to pay to watch a video that teaches you how to use a paid service. I use a number of other social marketing tools and they provide webinars or complete videos that go through all of the features and how to use the service. I'm sorry but your online training screen shots are hard to follow and hard to read online. One thing you might consider is limited access to your University videos that focus just on the hootsuite how tos.

It would be great to see a "per class" or per level (e.g. Hoot200) fee rather than a monthly fee. As an example, I am registered for an 8-week, graduate level, social media class and am paying a one time tuition fee of $2000. It does not require me to continuously pay per month for the class or the certification. Once the class is over, I have a permanent certificate, and I have graduate credits to transfer to another university. The class also covers more than just one social media tool. In theory, this should make me more marketable since I will know more than one tool and I will have knowledge of the legal and ethical aspects of using social media as a business tool.

Most professional certification programs charge a flat, one-time fee for the study materials and test. You pass the test and then they certify you. At most, you have to take CPE credits once a year to refresh your knowledge. Other than that, there is no continuous monthly fee to remain certified. Once you've earned your certification, it's yours to keep.

Frankly, HootSuite is valuable but it is not rocket science. Anyone can figure out how to use it. I'm not sure why anyone would need expensive lessons to use it effectively.

I cannot be the only one who is questioning the legitimacy of a program that requires monthly payments to maintain certification - a certification that's too new to determine whether or not it's going to be a competitive advantage in the job market.

I hope you're going to re-think this. It's a terrible idea, and the soak factor is off-putting.