The internet – most influential concept of the year

Time has just announced its People of the Year list for 2010, and number one, according to them, is Mark Zuckerberg, the 26 year old CEO of Facebook. It’s a decision that has caused an outcry, with many calling it a purely political move. Wikileak’s Julian Assange, the current nemesis of the US government, came top in a people’s vote, with Zuckerberg in a distant 10th place – even beneath Steve Jobs!

Time said the award was given to Zuckerberg 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’. Assange was given the ‘Time Readers Man of the Year Award 2010’ instead, causing a massive online backlash.

Regardless of your position; and many online posters seem to be making their stand on the basis of personal like or dislike, the head-to-head between these two men, both of whom owe their livelihoods to the internet, shows just how much the web has changed the way we are influenced.

In the past, most Time winners have come from the fields of politics, with the occasional innovator thrown in, such as Charles Lindbergh. Number two on the reader’s list is the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the Tea Party and Afghan President Hamid Karzai featuring in Time’s official runners up list.

That an established magazine like Time would therefore pick two technology whiz-kids as their numbers one and two for Man of the Year shows how the world and the way influence occurs is changing, with a shift towards the digital realm that acknowledges the way the internet, social media, networking and increased freedom of information have changed all our lives.