Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg named TIME’s Person of the Year
December 16th, 2010 - 4:30 am ICT by BNO NewsWASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) — TIME Magazine on Wednesday announced that it named Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg as its 2010 Person of the Year.
Zuckerberg was selected for the prestigious award for creating a new way to exchange information, connecting over half a billion people around the world and essentially changing social interactions.
TIME’s Person of the Year is given to the individual who - for better of worse - manages to influence the year’s events. Zuckerberg, 26, is the second youngest person to earn the award after pilot Charles Lindbergh was selected in 1927.
The favorite for this year’s award was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange but writers and editors selected Zuckerberg after a consensus and advice from past winners. Others in the 2010 contest were the Tea Party, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and the 33 rescued Chilean miners.
In February 2004, Zuckerberg, who was then a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard, started a Web service from his dorm. It was called Thefacebook.com, and it was an online directory that connects people through social networks at colleges.
In 2010, almost seven years later, Facebook added its 550 millionth member which means that one out of every dozen people on the planet has a Facebook account. Its members speak 75 languages and collectively spent over 700 billion minutes on Facebook every month.
Its membership is currently growing at a rate of about 700,000 people a day. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest, only behind India and China. Facebook’s membership is currently growing at a rate of about 700,000 people a day.
“70% of Facebook users live outside the U.S. We have entered the Facebook age, and Mark Zuckerberg is the man who brought us here,” TIME said in a statement.
Some criticized TIME’s decision to not give the award to Assange, who had been leading TIME’s online Person of the Year poll. In 2009, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was named Person of the Year.
Other previous winners include current U.S. President Barack Obama, former Russian President and current Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and ‘You’.
- Facebook founder Zuckerberg is Time's Person of Year (Lead) - Dec 15, 2010
- Time Person Of The Year 2010 Award Goes To Marc Zuckerberg! - Dec 16, 2010
- Should Mark Zuckerberg Be Man of Year? - Dec 16, 2010
- Deaf Malaysian draws Assange's portrait - Dec 28, 2010
- New York man claims ownership of Facebook - Jul 13, 2010
- Facebook Best Workplace To Be In: Says A Survey - Dec 17, 2010
- Facebook blames bug for Zuckerberg's account 'hacking' - Jan 27, 2011
- Mark Zuckerberg buys a new mansion - May 06, 2011
- Advani hails Assange, Zuckerberg in blog - May 03, 2011
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg braces for 'The Social Network' - Oct 03, 2010
- Facebook founder obtains restraining order against Indian-origin 'stalker' - Feb 08, 2011
- Assange's mother wants Australian PM to apologise - Feb 05, 2011
- Mark Zuckerberg may need to pay $2 billion in taxes - Feb 08, 2012
- Now, Facebook mobile users can control privacy while on the move - Aug 05, 2010
- Zuckerberg obtains restraining order against stalker - Feb 09, 2011
Tags: afghan president hamid karzai, bno, charles lindbergh, co founder, facebook, federal reserve chairman, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke, hamid karzai, julian assange, mark zuckerberg, millionth, miners, person of the year, president hamid karzai, prestigious award, social interactions, social networks, tea party, time magazine, year poll