Entertainment

Mark Zuckerberg named TIME Person of the Year 2010

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was named TIME Person of the Year 2010 on Wednesday.

TIME managing editor Rick Stengel made the announcement on NBC’s “Today Show.”

The magazine’s editors annually name an individual or group of people who have had the most influence on the year’s news to be Person of the Year.

Zuckerberg, 26, is the US creator of the Facebook social networking website, which has an estimated 500 million users worldwide. He is the second youngest person ever to earn the distinction, after American aviator Charles Lindbergh.

Stengel said Zuckerberg’s social networking service was “transforming the way we live our lives every day.”

TIME chose the conservative US Tea Party movement, followed by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as runners-up.

Stengel said that Facebook has turned into a global influence of unprecedented scope.

“For connecting more than half-a-billion people and mapping the social relations among them [something that has never been done before]; for creating a new system of exchanging information that has become both indispensable and sometimes a little scary; and finally, for changing how we all live our lives in ways that are innovative and even optimistic, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is Time’s 2010 Person of the Year,” Stengel said in a statement.

In an interview on NBC television, Stengel said Zuckerberg was “humbled” and “deeply affected” by the award.

Zuckerberg was the subject of this year’s blockbuster movie “The Social Network,” which received six Golden Globe nominations Tuesday. He is also a notable philanthropist, pledging to give away millions of dollars to charity recently.

Last year’s Person of the Year was US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. US President Barack Obama was the recipient in 2008.

TIME’s editors decided against following the online readers’ poll for who should be Person of the Year. which was topped by Assange ahead of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Ergodan and pop star Lady Gaga. Zuckerberg finished tenth in the readers’ poll.