It seems connecting 10 percent of the world will get you noticed. Time has named Mark Zuckerberg, c0-founder and CEO of Facebook, it’s 2010 Person of the Year. At 26, Zuckerberg is the second youngest person to ever hold the title. Charles Lindbergh, who won in 1927, was only 25. The reason he got the title? Well, Facebook has dominated the news all year, first for privacy concerns, then because of The Social Network, and lately because Zuckerberg himself has been making a number of high profile product announcements. The site has bold goals, hoping to redefine email and compete with industry giants like Google.
Time editors and staff chose Zuckerberg after polling their readers, who voted for Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks and Lady Gaga as the two most influential figures.
“Zuckerberg is a warm presence, not a cold one,” writes Time’s Lev Grossman. “He has a quick smile and doesn’t shy away from eye contact. He thinks fast and talks fast, but he wants you to keep up. He exudes not anger or social anxiety but a weird calm. When you talk to his co-workers, they’re so adamant in their avowals of affection for him and their insistence that you not misconstrue his oddness that you get the impression it’s not just because they want to keep their jobs. People really like him.”
Facebook is the happiest place to work
And he’s not making that up. A survey by Glassdoor, a California-based job site, has named Facebook the happiest place to work in the United States. It has the highest overall rating of any company. Other companies to make the top five: Southwest Airlines, Bain & Company, General Mills, and Edelman, a public relations firm. Apple ranked 20 and Google came in 30.
Zuckerberg himself has a 96 percent approval rating from those who took the survey, putting him among the top eight CEOs in the country. Apple’s Steve Jobs (97 percent) and Google’s Eric Schmidt (96 percent) also ranked highly among respondents.
“We’re thrilled to be recognized as the best place to work among the distinguished companies on the list,” said Lori Goler, Facebook vice president of human resources. “At Facebook, every person can have a meaningful impact, and people are empowered to move fast, take risks, and build bold and innovative things. We’re thankful people have embraced this freedom to do great things for Facebook and the people who use Facebook around the world.”
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