Twhirl: Twitter Tool All Boxed Up
Twhirl calls itself a social software client, but don’t let that fool you. It’s a tool for microblogging and keeping up with all those social networks scattered across the net. Part aggregate, part toolbox, Twhirl lets you get the feeds from several of the popular social sites, including Twitter, Seesmic, Friendfeed, and Identi.ca. Each of these microblogging sites offers different content, but since Twhirl was built with Twitter in mind, let’s talk about how Twhirl works with Twitter.
The first thing you’ll notice with Twhirl is that is built in Adobe AIR, which means a quick download (and a download of AIR if you haven’t yet) and an application that doesn’t take a lot of bandwidth, freeing your browser. In addition to easing the load on your browser, a desktop application allows you to work without the browser in a smooth and stable interface.
The next thing you see with Twhirl is how compact it can be, and after you’ve signed into the services you want, how quickly the petite screens fills up with posts from people you are following. Don’t be alarmed by the tens of small icons. Each of them has an accurate label once you roll over with the mouse, and with the exception of the “mark all as read” button (a lined paper with a check in it) the buttons are well chosen and are easy to remember. Having opened Twhirl, you may now want to customize the desktop companion with resizing, placement, and color changes. These are all done in a familiar way - dragging to resize or through the settings (that little wrench icon). Once you’ve got it the way you like, begin to go through the Tweets. Too many? Twhirl has a filter button (it looks like a funnel) that lets you type in a term to narrow the Tweets to Tweets with only that term. For us we used “web 2.0,” and got a great batch of Tweets to read (and some of our own). Though hard to find (you have to click on the person’s name - not their avatar), Twhirl also allows you to follow or unfollow people throught a plus/minus button.
Twhirl does a lot more than Twitter does. In addition to the posting and replying that you can do inside Twitter, Twhirl also allows you to shorten urls (very important in a microblogging format), post pics through Twitpic, and search by person or topic. Best of all Twhirl doesn’t lose track of where you were. Say you do a search for the user Listio (the button with the person and the question mark). After admiring what we’ve said, you want to do a keyword search for Listio to see what others have said. Click the button for keyword search (the magnifying glass), and enter Listio. For as long as your session is active you can go back and forth from the two results with the click of the button. Twhirl also gives the option to have pop up boxes for quick notication of incoming messages, or an adjustable rate of refresh to slow/speedup tweets. This makes Twhirl a useful tool for the frequent Twitter user, not only for its enhanced functionality, but also for it’s convenience.
Of the features that Twhirl has become known for, none are more significant than how well Twhirl works with more than one microblogging network. Twhirl has the ability to cross-post (post Tweets) to Pownce and Jaiku, so that you can cover three networks with one post. It is also integrated into Friendfeed, Identi.ca, and the video blogging platform Seesmic, a useful feature should Twitter ever experience down time.
Twhirl is not without its limitations, however. While offering simultaneous posts to Jaiku and Pownce, reading messages from those services is not possible. Also, the services you sign into are kept separate - one service per box - so Twhirl can take up a lot of desktop. Last, and this is an issue with all social networks - is time. Though you can set your Twitter API in Twhirl to update your tweets, replies, and direct replies as little or as often as you like, we all know how hard it is to ignore the beep of acknowledgement when it comes in. That said, Twhirl is a useful tool for the Twitter user, combining features outside the Twitter framework into a convenient and attractive interface. To find Twhirl and applications like it there is the Listio search Twitter+desktop.
Previously in this series: TweetDeck: Enhanced Twitter Tool
Next in this series: Comparing Desktop Twitter Tools: TweetDeck, Twhirl, Spaz and Twitterific
Application: twhirlListio Profile: http://www.listio.com/web20/app/twhirl/
Website: http://www.twhirl.org
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Tags: desktop, feeds, microblog, networks, post, share, social, social networking, Twitter
Posted in: Twitter Tools | Respond
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