As Facebook pushes past 750 million users and is valued at close to $100 billion, its founder Mark Zuckerberg has topped The Guardian’s list of the top 100 people in the media right now. The film about his startup escapades may or may not have reflected the truth but there is no doubt that he is front and centre of the public consciousness of digital media.
At Facebook he is in charge of 2,000 staff and is reportedly worth $13.5 billion, but he has his sights set firmly on expansion and is learning Mandarin in order to aid his efforts of breaking into the Chinese market. Whether you love or hate Facebook, you almost certainly will have an account and use it to communicate with your friends and acquaintances or share photos or news items. Like Google for search and Wikipedia for information, and Youtube for video – Facebook is the place for personal social relationships online.
On the list Zuckerberg beats out competition from the likes of Jack Dorsey of Twitter (#2), Larry Page of Google (#3), and Mark Thompson of the BBC (#4) – some big names. Even with his absence from proceedings at Apple for much of the years Steve Jobs still manages to make number 5 on the list with Apple becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world and iPhones and iPads becoming ubiquitous media devices everywhere.