Zuckerberg beats Jobs and Murdoch to top of media personality list

THE FOUNDER AND CEO of the social network Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has been given the top spot in The Guardian's list of the 100 top media people, ahead of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Zuckerberg earned the number one slot on the basis of the immense success of Facebook, which only four years ago ranked 100 on The Guardian's list of media companies. Zuckerberg's personal rank last year was seventh, which suggests that he must have done something right to come out on top in this year's list.

A large reason for Zuckerberg's rise up the list is Facebook's dominance in social networking, with an expected revenue of $4bn in 2011, double that earned in 2010. The 27-year-old was even named as Time's Person of the Year for 2010, which was likely a deciding factor in The Guardian's decision.

The Guardian said that Zuckerberg would "remain the most influential figure in technology", but warned that "Facebook's position is precarious", likely due to the competitive threat presented by the rise of Google's latest social networking project, Google+.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey came in second place, thanks largely to the continued success of Twitter and the launch of the smartphone payment service Square.

In third place was Google's CEO Larry Page, which isn't a surprise considering how well the company has been doing over the past year or two. The success of Android is a particular boon, but it's likely that the launch of Google+ will secure Page an even higher position next year if it takes off in popularity.

Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO was in fifth place, down from the number one slot from last year, which was mainly due to the success of the Ipad. Releasing more of the same helped him stay high in the rankings but also ensured that he would fall behind the others.

Rupert Murdoch dropped from fourth place to sixth place, with the phone hacking scandal that is engulfing his media empire being to blame for his lower place in the rankings, despite the fact that he still owns a significant portion of the UK's media. µ