50 Best Websites 2009

Clear out your bookmarks. You're going to need the space for 50 offerings that are indispensable to navigating, enjoying yourself, shopping or just killing time on the Web.

Twitter

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"The one thing you can say for certain about Twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression," wrote Steven Johnson in his TIME cover story on the micro-blogging site, and it's true: you'll either love it or hate it. Haters maintain that nothing worth saying can be said in 140 characters. Lovers quote Hemingway's most famous short story in its entirety: "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn." Nevertheless, Twitter's ubiquity is upon us, and at least the musings of Twitterati like Ashton Kutcher and Shaquille O'Neal are less harmful than their movies.

See 10 ways Twitter will change American business.

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