I initially didn’t think a site that hasn’t made any noticeable improvements in over a year was worthy of this list, but then I remembered the day when Twitter was down and all day long I couldn’t tweet about it and I kept clicking the link over and over. Twitter’s quick display of micro-content that users are interested in is still brilliant and an integral part of the lives of thousands of nerds world-wide.
AV Club
The AV Club really picked up steam this year, with intelligent video games reviews, great online video critique, and a mind-bogglingly great list of bad band names. Every other movie review and top-ten website on the internet had a head start on the AV Club, but they’ve beat them all with ingenuity and great, click-grabbing headlines.
Mint
Disclaimer: Mint does not work well with my bank.
Also: I don’t care. Mint is so far and above every similar site (and even every bank site) that it’s practically shameful that you don’t have an account. While the “suggested savings” need some work, the alerts about deposits, spending, and monthly trends are so invaluable that I urge every bank to partner with this company and integrate their system into the bank’s website.
Honorable Mention: Cracked
The web edition of a crappy Mad Magazine knockoff (and nowadays, that’s saying soooo little), Cracked gained a big following this year by cleverly appealing to the base instinct in all internet users: We want to see witty top ten lists about things we half-remember and slightly care about. I’m ashamed of Cracked’s senseless juvenility, but the inner juvenile in my clicks on 3 or 4 links every time I visit.
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