Time 100: The Tech List

Time has just issued their Time 100 list, recognizing the most influential people around the world.  This is the twelfth year that Time has produced the list that includes innovators, industry leaders, artists, researchers, scientist, activists, and political heavyweights.  People are selected based on criteria that aren’t exactly a definite science.  There are people that happen to be popular as well as people that you have never heard of.  Some people that make the list are powerful, others are far from it.  This year, Time recognized many people in the technology industry.  Of course these kinds of people make the list every year but this year, a tech guru made it to the top.

• Wael Ghonim: Ranked #1

At the top of the list is a Google executive that helped to change a nation.  Mr. Ghonim helped to transform Egypt through the use of social media and peaceful demonstrations.  He was even held in custody for a period time because of his efforts to unite the youth of a country through civil disobedience.

• Reed Hastings: Ranked # 3

A few slots down is Reed Hastings, the co-founder and CEO of Netflix.  Netflix has totally changed the way that people look at movies and digital entertainment.  You can get your kicks watching flicks that are delivered to your doorstep or that are streamed live to your computer, game console or television.  Netflix is now moving in the direction of producing original programming, aligning them to become even more of a major player in the entertainment industry.

• Mark Zuckerbergy: Ranked #6

The sometimes disputed founder of Facebook has earned his place on the Time 100 list by continuing to be a part of a social networking site that has no intention of slowing down.  People can connect, advertise, share, find love and whatever else you can think of.  With continued innovation, Facebook is bound to become even more of a global phenomenon.

• Peter Vesterbacka: Ranked #7

You can blame Mr. Vesterbacka for all the time you spend playing “Angry Birds”.  He is the Rovio executive that is responsible for developing the game that has already been downloaded 100 million times.

• Julian Assange: Ranked #9

Much of the world was not ready for Mr. Assanges’ brand of muckraking and activism.  The WikiLeaks founder did his civic duty to the world by posting secret and classified information online to hold countries, businesses and regimes accountable.  Of course, this was not received well by the entities in question.  Displaying the truth for the world to see landed him on this list.

• Larry Page: Ranked #56

The new CEO of Google isn’t new to the company at all because he is also the co-founder.  Since he assumed his new position on April 4^th, he has been determined to shake things up.  His new leadership position is set to keep Google at the forefront.

• Arianna Huffington: Ranked #56

This year saw major changes for the Huffington Post co-founder.  A merger with AOL has expanded the reach of Ms. Arianna Huffington.

• Charles Chao: Ranked #97

This Chinese visionary found a way to get the approval of the Chinese government to have a social networking site.  Although it is censored, the Chinese people are able to enjoy the limited freedom of having a place to connect.  With over 100 million users, Charles Chao’s Sina Weibo is Facebook and Twitter’s Asian peer.

These are just a few of the tech related gurus that grace the list.  I can’t wait to see who makes it next year.

April 22, 2011