TIME Editor Explains Zuckerberg's Selection Reason_Xinhua News Agency

On Wednesday, the editor-in-chief of Time Magazine Richard Stengel published an article explaining the reasons for Zuckerberg's selection. Below is a summary of the article:

In 1924, British writer Virginia Woolf said: "In or around December 1910, human nature changed." Woolf's statement might have been exaggerated, but only slightly so. Because she observed that at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a fundamental shift in relationships between masters and servants, husbands and wives, fathers and children. Woolf believed that this change would bring about changes in every aspect of people's lives, from faith to politics, and even human behavior. Few would disagree with Woolf's words.

A century later, we have experienced another major transformation. This is a transformation in human communication, involving some customs in people's lives. People's sense of identity (sense of identity) is variable, their sense of privacy (sense of privacy) is growing stronger, and close friends now engage in conversations with millions of others through keyboards.

Worldwide, no one has experienced this change more than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Born in 1984, the year Apple launched the Macintosh, he created a social platform that has attracted nearly 600 million users globally. Moreover, approximately 1 million new users register on Facebook daily.

Facebook accounts for nearly one-tenth of the world's population, making it, by population count, the third-largest country in the world. Furthermore, compared to any national government, Facebook holds more information about its 'citizens.'

Evolutionary biologists believe there is a relationship between the volume of the cerebral cortex and the number of social relationships among primates. Anthropologist Robin Dunbar believes that in a community, one individual can manage up to 150 connections, which represents the maximum size of a person’s social circle. This aligns closely with the average number of friends Facebook users have on the site. However, with the popularization of airplanes, telephones, and social media, the breadth of human social interaction far exceeds that of our ancestors. Our ancestors may have only made 150 friends in a lifetime, but this is no longer the case today. Renowned biologist E.O. Wilson says: "We are in uncharted territory."

All social media is a mix of narcissism and voyeurism, and most people exhibit both traits simultaneously. This is precisely why social media spreads so quickly and penetrates so deeply. Social media mostly touches upon the part of human nature that hasn't changed.

Like another candidate, Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, Zuckerberg does not enjoy universal respect from traditional authorities. Assange and Zuckerberg seem like two sides of the same coin, both aspiring to openness and transparency. Assange attacks traditional practices through unconscious transparency, while Zuckerberg allows individuals to voluntarily share information. Assange believes the world is full of real and imagined enemies, whereas Zuckerberg sees potential friends everywhere. Both disdain privacy; Assange believes transparency benefits openness, while Zuckerberg considers it a cultural anachronism.

Zuckerberg is 26 years old, making him the second youngest Person of the Year in Time Magazine's history. The youngest was Charles Lindbergh, an American pilot who made the list in 1927 at just 25 years old. In third place is Queen Elizabeth of Britain, who was also 26 but two weeks older than Zuckerberg. Unlike Elizabeth inheriting her throne, Zuckerberg is building his own kingdom.

Actually, being named Person of the Year is not an honor, it never has been. It is a recognition of an individual's ability to shape the world. Zuckerberg accomplished something that humanity had never attempted before: connecting over 500 million people worldwide and establishing social relationships. He created an entirely new information exchange system and became an indispensable platform, though sometimes it can be unsettling, as it changes our lives in innovative ways. (By Li Ming)