Time magazine's "Person of the Year"

You were named Time magazine "Person of the Year" on Saturday. No, "You" is not a Chinese person, Hong Shong You, or Ding Dong You, it is just you, as well as me for sure ;)

The magazine said naming a collectivity rather than an individual reflected the way the internet was shifting the balance of power within the media through blogs, videos and social networks. Time mentioned websites such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia, which allow users to interact with the web by uploading and publishing their own posts, comments, videos, pictures and links.

You beat out candidates including Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, China's President Hu Jintao, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il

"It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes," Time magazine's Lev Grossman writes.

Time has been naming its person of the year since 1927 and the tradition has become the source of speculation every year, as well as controversy over unpopular choices such as Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.

The aim is to pick "the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or for ill, and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse."

Sources:
BBC News, Technology
Reuters

Tags: Media, Time, Magazine, You, Gr33n Data