Time magazine named "You" as its person of the year on Saturday, with a mirror cover designed to reflect the importance of user-generated Internet content as a driving force in the modern world.
User-generated content on Web sites such as YouTube has become the latest twist in the Internet revolution, with the site attracting millions of users and earning its founders US$1.65 billion when it was bought by Google this year.
Other Web sites such as Flickr, MySpace and Wikipedia are prime examples of user-generated content, allowing ordinary people to upload online content, rather than relying on media professionals, as traditional Web sites have done.
"We're making magazine history by putting out a cover like this," Time's managing editor Richard Stengel said.
"It's absolutely very forward looking," he said.
Time describes its person of the year title not necessarily as an honor, but as "the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or for ill, and embodied what was important about the year."
Stengel said in an interview with CNN ahead of the announcement: "You're looking for someone who's a symbol."
Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Previous winners include Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and the computer. Last year, U2 frontman turned anti-poverty campaigner Bono shared the award with Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and his wife Melinda.
US President George W. Bush was chosen in 2004, following the US soldier in 2003.
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