The folk over at Time Magazine have just unveiled their 100 most influential people of 2010 and like most lists steeped in subjectivity, the omissions and inclusions exist only to turn friends into enemies, expose closeted Ashton Kutcher fans and incite fiery debates and/or riots. Except instead of arguing over why one album is better than another, we’re debating the merits of someone’s influence which is probably the most unquantifiable thing ever. With this in mind Time have introduced “The Influence Index” a measure of influence based on social media stats from Facebook and Twitter.
Here’s how it works: Formula for networking index = (Twitter followers) x 2 + (Facebook connections) divided by 2
Now before you artificially hike Twitter followers to make Time’s list next year, keep in mind that Social Media popularity wasn’t the ultimate decider of influence as many people who scored zero aka people yet to create Facebook or Twitter accounts aka How’s the Stoneage going bro? still made the list. But doubt still abounds as the index states that Ashton Kutcher is 600 times more influential than Steve Jobs, and Robert Pattinson is more than ten times as influential as Bill Clinton which might be true but only for a very specific demographic of people who can’t vote/drive cars/understand Time Magazine.
As always a plethora of pop culture icons appeared on the list and provided the accompanying copy for their equally as famous friends, resulting in what can only be described as an editorial 69’er. For example, Lady Gaga (written by Cyndi Lauper), Conan O’Brien (written by George Lopez), Liya Kebede (written by Tom Ford), Kathryn Bigelow (written by Oliver Stone), Ashton Kutcher (written by Sean Combs), Zaha Hadid (written by Donna Karan), Steve Jobs (written by Jeff Koons), Jet Li (written by Donatella Versace), Ben Stiller (written by Robert De Niro), Neil Patrick Harris (written by Joss Wheden), Taylor Swift (written by Stevie Nicks), Prince (written By Usher), Neill Blomkamp (written by Ridley Scott), James Cameron (wirrten by Sigourney Weaver), Banksy (written by Shepard Fairey), Marc Jacobs (written by Vicotria Beckham) etc, etc, etc.
OK I’m going to stop there because reading a famous name that is then followed by another (more/less established) famous name is really fucking boring. Except when those names are Jet Li and Donatella Versace because the mind just boggles doesn’t it? If you’re interested take a look at the full list here, which DOESN’T include Justin Bieber who should be crying into his hair straightener right now and crafting a catchy but emotional ballad about not making Time’s 100 Most Influential List in 2010 which will then sell a billion copies and guarantee his spot on Time’s Most Influential List in 2011.
And now, a message from Lady Gaga.
