Did you know that I am on the cover of TIME magazine? You are too… and you…and you… and you. If you used or created content on the World Wide Web at any point in the last 350 days then you are being honored as TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year.”
Quite an honor, huh? I was a bit shocked the award was bestowed on each and every one of us, though I believe it’s a savvy marketing move to say the least. After all, why honor the institutions when you can recognize the individuals who use them? I’m sure they will sell more copies of the magazine by creating a buzz that “YOU” were selected as the “Person of the Year.” We the citizens of the new digital democracy, as the magazine put it, are the winners… WE matter people!
TIME’s staff makes no qualms about their decision:
“If you choose an individual, you have to justify how that person affected millions of people,” said Richard Stengel, who took over as Time’s managing editor earlier this year. “But if you choose millions of people, you don’t have to justify it to anyone.”
Just so you (we) don’t get a big head, the magazine did list 26 “(Other) People Who Mattered,” from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il to Pope Benedict XVI. In addition to President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Had we not got the honor, magazine editors’ say the person who would have likely graced the cover would have been Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
You can pick up a copy of our winning cover piece starting today. And don’t worry the shot they used wasn’t the one your Aunt Betsy took of you at Thanksgiving; rather the cover shows a white keyboard with a mirror for a computer screen where you can see your reflection—CLEVER!
One more piece of TIME magazine trivia to share with you: 2006 is not the first time the magazine didn’t name an actual person for its “Person of the Year.” In 1966, the 25-and-under generation was cited; in 1975, American women were named; and in 1982, the computer was chosen. I think WE make a better choice, don’t you?
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