Time magazine has named you (us?), the collective public, its “Person of the Year.” It made the decision based on the explosion of user-generated content on the web.

The award, given out annually by the magazine since 1927, is meant to identify the person or group that has had the most influence on news.

Last year, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, his wife, Melinda, and U2’s Bono won the award collectively. In 2004, it was given to George W. Bush.

According to the BBC, Time said that presenting the 2006 award in this manner — essentially, to everyone — reflected the way in which blogs, video sites like YouTube, and social networking sites like MySpace are changing the online landscape.

Time magazine did not mention how they plan to fit the faces of everyone in the world onto their cover.






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