Well good damn times, we are all the person of the year. But the title may be a little mis-leading. Time magazine is not referring to everyone, but particularly the folks who participate in “Web 2.0.” I find the person of the year selection interesting and troubling at the same time. I remember several years ago when time named Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the person of the year, based almost entirely on the hype of the dot com bubble.  The Bezos person of the year designation came without Amazon making any profit. This years announcement comes when we should all ask the question what does Web 2.0 really mean. Does it mean that we, the people of the information age, have a real voice in spreading information, opinion, and community? Or does it mean that the new distribution of information that Web 2.0 provides will be just another avenue that the professional media will exploit as a means of delivery? We all love YouTube, but I have heard that some of the most popular videos are the professional videos that come out of the mainstream media.
Nevertheless, this is an exciting person of the year, even though it comes from the old media. Hell, even Matt Drudge had this as the top headline on his site. I guess we are all flattered.
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