Luckily for this Zuckerberg guy, the "Time" "person of the year" folks appear to have a very generous definition of "person"

Do you suppose Zucky owes somebody at Time Inc. money?

by Ken

Before I deploy the DWTKenInNY Wrecking Ball, I offer two admissions:

* People for whom I nevertheless still have respect as well as affection think Facebook is a really big deal.

* Even I have fond Facebook useful for reconnecting, or at least having the possibility of reconnecting, with people who've somehow slipped out of my life.

That said, let me put this in the most temperate way I can think of: You know this Facebook thing? I don't get it. (I don't think I need to say any more. People who feel the same way won't need any explanation, and people who don't won't care. It says something that despite my admiraton, bordering on awe, for Aaron Sorkin -- Sports Night, West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip seem to me among the truly great things done for television -- I still haven't been able to force myself to see The Social Network. I keep meaning to, but I always remember that it's about, you know, the Facebook guy.)

I suppose it's silly to get worked up over Time magazine's "Person of the Year" thing. The list of past recipients is a compendium of the good, the bad, and the whassat?. The only real purpose it serves is to generate some annual buzz for the magazine and maybe even sell a few copies.

Actually, it strikes me as less newsworthy that Julian Assange of WikiLeaks didn't win it this year than that anybody thinks he might ever have. So I found this nugget from Sarah Seltzer on AlterNet so delightful that I couldn't resist sharing it.

Assange Won Readers' Poll, But TIME Chooses Zuckerberg for Person of the Year

Just two days ago, TIME magazine reported that an overwhelming number of its readers had voted for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as their "person of the year": "Readers voted a total of 1,249,425 times, and the favorite was clear. Julian Assange raked in 382,020 votes, giving him an easy first place."

But this morning on the TODAY show, TIME editors unveiled their "Person"--Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a far less polarizing choice to grace the cover of the weekly magazine.

While both men are founders of controversial tech empires which have arguably changed the social fabric, the difference between the two is clear: to generalize, Assange's innovation has targeted government secrecy while Facebook has changed our personal lives.

It's certainly true that Assange--a top runner up along with the trapped Chilean miners and the Tea Party makes the young Zuckerberg look like a docile choice in comparison.

Now of course the chance that the "Time" POTY people would have gone with Assange strikes me unmeasurably close to zero. Can you imagine how bonkers the magazine's advertisers would have gone. I'm imagining it this very moment, even as I type. It's barrels of fun to imagine -- try it!


ON SECOND THOUGHT . . .

I just realized that I forgot to include the Time cover photo. Now that I've done that, and taken a better look, I'm wondering if this wasn't some massive prank by the POTY folks against poor Zucky. How would you like to have that picture of you plastered all over the world? Do you suppose he owes somebody at Time Inc. money or something?


AND SPEAKING OF JULIAN ASSANGE . . .

Further to my report Tuesday:

WikiLeaks Founder Is Released on Bail

The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after being released on bail on Thursday by the High Court in London.

By RAVI SOMAIYA

LONDON — Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was released from jail on $315,000 bail on Thursday, and he vowed in a defiant speech to continue to release classified documents and to fight extradition to Sweden for questioning about accusations of sexual offenses.

After nine days in Wandsworth Prison, Mr. Assange emerged into an explosion of photographers’ flashbulbs and spotlights under the grand arch of the Royal Courts of Justice. “Well, it’s great to feel the fresh air of London again,” he told a cheering crowd.

He closed his brief statement by saying, “I hope to continue my work and continue protesting my innocence in this matter.”

Mr. Assange, looking weary in the dark blue suit and white shirt he has worn through three court appearances over 10 days, left London on Thursday night for Ellingham Hall, a lavish country estate in eastern England, where under the bail conditons he must spend every night and submit to extensive monitoring. . . .

#