NEW YORK: Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2006 is "You". This is in recognition of explosive growth and influence of user-generated content on the internet marked by blogs, community-based networks like MySpace and video-sharing sites like YouTube.
The magazine latest cover displays a computer monitor with the word "You" in bold black and a keyboard. Below it is the text, "Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world."
The magazine writes in justification: "For seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, Time's Person of the Year for 2006 is you."
"You" outclassed other contenders like president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Iran, Hu Jintao of China, Kim Jong-il of North Korea and James Baker, the former U.S. secretary of state.
The magazine listed websites like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia as media that allowed users to interact with the web by uploading and publishing their own comments, videos, pictures and links. It unquestionably showered accolades on the web, the tool that made such collaboration feasible.
Time has been carrying on the nomination of the person of the year since 1927. Its 2005 nominee was Bill Gates, his wife Melinda and Irish rocker Bono for being Good Samaritans, while in 2004 it nominated U.S. president George W. Bush.
The current issue of the magazine, featuring the nominee, is on stands now. Writes editor Richard Stengel, "A mother in Baghdad with a videophone can let you see a roadside bombing, or a patron in a nightclub can show you a racist rant by a famous comedian. These blogs and videos bring events to the rest of us in ways that are often more immediate and authentic than traditional media.''
The magazine has also recognized 'newsmakers,' whose actions in the past year, it says, have affected people's lives, for better or worse. Among them are Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Pope Benedict XVI, president George W. Bush, vice president Dick Cheney, Ford Motor Co.'s Bill Ford, comedian Stephen Colbert and the Iraq Study Group.
