I’ve been using twhirl for the past week to read and respond to Twitter messages. While I’m still not sold on the long term usefulness of Twitter, I am impressed by the free twhirl program. Because it’s based upon the Adobe AIR platform, the software runs on either Windows or the Mac.

twhirl provides an easier way to post messages to Twitter. Here’s a copy of my twhirl screen from this morning. The screen provides much the same information you would get from visiting the Twitter web site - and adds a few useful tools

Most of what you do in twhirl can also be done directly on the twitter web site (http://www.twitter.com). twhirl just makes it a lot easier to do - plus it adds support for multiple accounts - for those with far too much time on their hands.

When you hover over a user’s photo (pictured above) - you’re presented with four icons:

@ = Send Reply - a shortcut way for me to direct a reply to the person

(envelope) = Clicking on the envelope in the upper right corner, I can send a direct message. These are only available for those who also “follow” your messages.

(heart) = Favor tweet - by selecting a Tweet as a favorite, the last 20 are saved for future viewing.

>> = Re-Tweet - Allows you to forward a tweet

The real reason you may want to use twhirl is to take advantage of their URL shortening tool.

When you send a “tweet” you may want to include a URL to point out a web site. Because Twitter has a message size limit of 140 characters -you usually need to shorten the URL.

Here’s how it works in twhirl.

First I enter a message.

If I want to include a link - I click the icon on the right hand side of the scren.

Which presents me with this URL shortening dialog box.

twhirl automatically takes the URL, uses the snurl.com web site to create a shorter link, then presents you with a link . Instead of the a lengthy URL, you now have a short link that doesn’t take up your entire message.

The program offers a similar tool for photographs and it will upload and share a link to the twitpic site.

Twitter has a 70 update per hour limit. To prevent data overloads, users can only check their Twitter account for messages 70 times in an hour. twhirl has a built-in network request limiter so you can be sure that the program doesn’t overload Twitter with requests to update your status. It allows you to individually set how frequently the program checks for regular tweets, direct messages and replies.

Whether you’ve been using twitter for a while, or are just starting, check out the twhirl program - more twhirl setup and configuration information here.