3.ly, aka Threely, is a fairly new entrant in the URL shortening game, and so far, I really like it. The most obvious benefit is that Threely makes shorter URLs, 15 characters vs. 18 characters from is.gd, which I believe was the previous title holder for shortest URL shortener. Two characters is a big deal, particularly if you’re angling for Twitter RTs.

But getting beyond the obsession with brevity, Threely also has a great user interface. It is one of the simplest URL shorteners and allows instant custom URL generation with one click.

The screen shot above shows some of the many features of Threely. You can post a Threely URL to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon or Del.icio.us. You can also create “custom” aka vanity URLs with an easily remembered word or words, but of course this can begin to defeat the purpose of the shortened URL. There’s a hit counter option like that offered (automatically in some cases) by a number of other shorteners like Cli.gs.

Finally, Threely offers the ability to insert any of a handful of Twitter symbols, such as a heart, star, check mark or umbrella, for “labeling” URLs. I don’t fully understand this feature. There might be some kind of secret Twitter Illuminati that I don’t know about that uses these symbols in some nefarious way, or maybe they’re just for fun.

Threely says user accounts are on the way, which I think is a must have. I use Cli.gs and I can easily recall any of the shortened URLs I’ve made. It’s easy to lose a URL with Threely.

Tags: URL shorteners, Threely, shortest, is.gd, cli.gs, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us