Talk about functional: downforeveryoneorjustme is one of the most minimalistic sites you’ll ever come across, but one of the most useful. Having a problem accessing a particular Website? Just type the name of the site in the box provided and click the ‘or just me’ hyper link and in a nanosecond you’ll know whether or not it’s just you that is experiencing problems. No need to IM your co-workers or friends, this site works just fine.

Want to keep up on what people are chatting about in one fancy little destination? Check out Buzz Feed, the kind of stuff you want to send your friends. Sure it was founded in 2006, but this site never fails to deliver and 2009 was a great year for Buzz Feed. Where do you think we found some of the funny sites we’ve already brought your way?

Tumblr has been gaining traction this year, especially with it’s (pardon our French) “fuckyeah” trend. You love something “fuckyeah” it and follow. This lovely micro-blog moniker is really about people loving something enough to let everyone know. As a co-worker once told me, Tumblr is like Twitter on steroids. Indeed.

Companies like Coca-Cola and Ikea have been making moves in the social media space this year and have been pretty impressive. Coca-Cola’s Expedition 206 is off and running and the Ikea Facebook campaign has been generating much praise. Then there’s the good old scavenger hunt that has been gaining a whole lot of online attention this year. One in particular that stood out for us here at Fanscape is the Go Forth campaign brought to us by Levi’s.

One of the most creative campaigns we’ve seen this year. We were most impressed with the amazing amount of time that went into creating the back-story, hiding the $100,000 and the dig for the Grayson Ozias IV ( G.O. Forth) treasure.

Rounding out the brief  year in sites is one of the best things ever, Texts From Last Night. Not much explaining to do here, but a piece of advice, be careful what you drunk text because it could wind up right here.

Next up: Tweeters of ‘09

Earlier this month, I noticed IKEA products featured in the “Daily Style” section once, then twice, then again, and again, and again, and…again.  Furthermore, one of Heather’s recent blog posts features her daughter’s newly furnished room, with photos that look like they were ripped straight from the IKEA catalogue.

IKEA is either extremely lucky to be featured on the top-ranked “mommy blog,” or these features were coordinated by a public relations professional.  This reminds me of Chris Brogan’s “sponsored” Kmart post on Dad-O-Matic.  Chris Brogan was given a $500 Kmart gift card and then blogged about it.  Makes me wonder – did Dooce get some kind of monetary compensation for featuring IKEA?  Did she get a shopping spree in exchange for posting about IKEA a few times?  Maybe, maybe not.

If the IKEA explosion on Dooce was indeed compensated in some way, I actually think it’s great.  IKEA naturally fits in with the content on Dooce – all of her IKEA posts are seamlessly integrated.  They make sense.  IKEA is exactly something that is very “Heather,” and as a longtime reader, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was just obsessed with IKEA and therefore posted seven times about it. Heather isn’t a mommy blogger who endlessly posts reviews and contests – she’s incredibly picky with her content, and very rarely is there something that is obviously pitched by a PR professional.  Anything pitched to Heather absolutely has to be the perfect fit – which you would only know by being very familiar with Heather, her site, and her sense of style.  So maybe the IKEA features were pitched for or paid for – but maybe IKEA is just “lyckas” (that’s IKEA-speak for “lucky”).