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TIME Names Mark Zuckerberg Person of Year

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the remember-when-it-was-you dept.

theodp writes "Sorry, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates — there's a new geek kid in town. TIME magazine has selected Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as its Person of the Year. Why? 'For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them; for creating a new system of exchanging information; and for changing how we all live our lives,' reasoned TIME At age 26, Zuckerberg is TIME's second-youngest selection, bested only by Charles Lindbergh. So what does Zuckerberg do for an encore — Academy Award, maybe?"

5 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. orly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    more like douche-bag of the year.

  2. Julian Assange by Weezul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It obviously should have been Julian Assange, duh.

    --
    The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
  3. For Better or *for Worse* ... by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    more like douche-bag of the year.

    Just to underscore the "for worse" part of what the Time person is defined as: "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year."

    Examples:

    1938 Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler
    1939 Soviet Union Joseph Stalin
    1979 Iran Ayatollah Khomeini
    2010 United States Mark Zuckerberg

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:For Better or *for Worse* ... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Stalin was Man of the Year (it didn't become Person of the Year until 1999) twice - once in 1939 and then again in 1942. George W. Bush was person of the year in 2000 - read into that what you will (Obama was in 2008). It's interesting that, over the last 15 years, only two have not been US citizens: Vladimir Putin and 'you'. Before 1995, the country of origin was rarely the same two years in a row. I'm not sure if this means that Time is becoming more parochial, or that they honestly believe that no one outside the USA is that influential anymore.

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      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  4. Times Magazine windows Coward Of The Year award by MouseR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For being too pussy to admit Assange has had greater impact, as noted by the reader vote.