Time magazine's "Person of the year 2006" 18 Dec 2006

Congratulations, you have been named Time magazine's "Person of the year" for your outstanding contribution to the growth of 'user-generated Internet content'. However, before you start cracking open the bubbly and writing your acceptance speech, it's probably best to tell you that you'll be sharing this accolade with over one billion internet users around the world!

Time magazine has named "You" as its Person of the Year, recognising the impact that internet users have had on revolutionising the media, through blogs and community websites, etc. (Rival candidates for the award included the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and James Baker, the former US secretary of state who co-chaired the Iraq Study Group).

In summarising the year, Time magazine said that 2006 was "...a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. 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".

Congratulations, "You"!