Hootsuite buys analytics firm Talkwalker [Video]

When Irina Novoselsky contemplates social media, she’s certain the next decade won’t be anything like the last because consumers increasingly allow the online world to shape nearly every aspect of their lives.

“We’re big believers that social media is about to be massively disrupted,” says the chief executive of Hootsuite Inc., a Vancouver-based company that makes social media management and marketing software.

Novoselsky, who celebrated her first year in Hootsuite’s top job in mid-January, is determined to not let the 16-year-old company get left behind as the industry evolves from status updates and posed shots to using consumer data to guide everything from marketing to major business decisions.

It’s partly why she brokered a deal, announced Monday, that will see Hootsuite acquire Talkwalker. The Luxembourg-based consumer intelligence company sells services that help companies assess the effectiveness and engagement around their public relations campaigns and compare their social media performance to …