January 4, 2010 at 8:58 am

2009 Year in Review

by twistedsifter

Over 400 posts and 1.3 million page views later, TwistedSifter has completed an incredible inaugural year. To herald the year to come, let’s look back at the year that was, and reminisce about some of the most popular posts from 2009.

Before we delve deeper, I want to thank the readers of this site for all of their support, comments, and feedback. How the site began and how you see it today is shaped in large part by insights and input from our incredible community. THANK YOU x infinity, you are greatly appreciated.

5 SELECTIONS FROM ART AND DESIGN

Nature’s Revenge by Ludo

Gears of Bore: The World’s First Belt-Driven Watch

The Bladeless Fan</a

3D Insanity with Only Four Letters

Stormtrooper Inspired Art and Design

5 SELECTIONS FROM NATURE

– One of TwistedSifter’s most popular articles to date, it started with a link from NotCot and Reddit
– It then became popular on Twitter after some influential users (e.g., The Cool Hunter, ArchDaily and PetaPixel) ‘tweeted’ the article

The Highest Waterfall in the World

The Largest Animal Ever

10 Amazing Facts About Jellyfish

Living Art: Stunning Aqua Forest Aquariums

5 SELECTIONS FROM PROPERTIES, PLACES & STRUCTURES

The Most Expensive Place in Brooklyn, New York

Industrial Renovation: The Giant Gasometers of Vienna

Re-Imagining the Super-Yacht: Wally Hermès Yachts

Canopy Living: The Ultimate Tree House

An Elegant Solution to a Long and Narrow Space

5 SELECTIONS FROM TECH & GADGETS

Why Nerds Rule: Luis Von Ahn and reCAPTCHA

– Another one of TwistedSifter’s most popular articles, it all started with a Stumbleupon submission
– It then hit Twitter with a bang thanks to the highly influential and very lovely BuzzEdition
– This led to influential retweets from social media mavens like: Alyssa Milano, Virginia Madsen, Zaibatsu, Dudeman718 and Adamsconsulting
– The last three may not be household names like Alyssa Milano or Virginia Madsen, but they have great influence and authority in social media, and it gave this little site some incredible exposure, so thank you influencers!

Can Your Boat Dive 100 Feet Under Water?

Experience The Joy of Flight in the Icon A5 Light Sport Aircraft

A Brief Introduction to 3D Printing and Scanning

INSANE: yellowBird 3D Video Technology With Full 360 Viewing

3 SELECTIONS FROM MUSIC

TwistedSifter’s Amazing Animated Gifs Compilation

– Way back in April ’09 when we had about 12 readers, the Sifter released their first string of YouTube videos using the basic yet serviceable Windows Movie Maker
– While not receiving many views or any comments, it did mark a significant change from a link blog to a content producer
– It was early posts like this that influenced the decision to switch from simply posting links to ‘cool articles’ to writing some of our own

The Roots – What they do | Lyrics, Audio and Music Video

Soko – I’ll Kill Her | Brilliant Fan-Made Music Video

5 SELECTIONS FROM SPORTS

The Musings of Mike Tyson – Motivational Quotes

– This was another of TwistedSifter’s most popular posts to date
– It was the first article that made it to the Reddit front page, which promptly caused a major traffic spike and forced the site to be shut down by our [former] host providers
– After another site shutdown thanks to the awesome power of Reddit, TwistedSifter switched hosts in December ’09

What Costs $1.3 Billion, Holds 111,000 people and Has the World’s Biggest TV?

How to Lose $1.93 Million in 7 Hands of Poker

The Longest Par 3 in the World, 900 Yards | Legend Golf & Safari Resort – South Africa

Roger Williamson and the Dutch Grand Prix Tragedy of 1973

MOST COMMENTED STORY TO DATE

Picture of the Day – December 10, 2009

And last but certainly not least is our reader’s favourite weekly post, the FRIDAY SHIRK REPORT, which highlights 20 images, 10 articles and 5 videos from the previous week of sifting.