Libyan Activist, Facebook Founder Deserving of 'Influential' Title; Where Is Lady Gaga?

COMMENTARY | The annual list of the 100 most influential people was released Thursday by Time magazine. In a year that has been dominated by unrest in the Middle East and oil troubles, the list reflects those major events. Included in this list are not only major politicians and activists but also artists and athletes.

Wael Ghonim, a 30-year-old executive for Google, tops the list of the world's most influential people. He played a crucial role in the revolt in Egypt that led to the demise of Hosni Mubarak's reign in February. He has been working to educate his peers in Egypt to believe that they could change things. Using Facebook and other forms of social media to spread the word, 12 million people eventually rose up and removed Mubarak and his regime from power in Egypt.

Human activist and lawyer Fathi Terbil was a major player in the other big rebellion this year. His decision to defend the families of over 1,000 Libyan inmates who were killed in a riot 15 years ago led to him being arrested in February. His supporters and the victims' families went to protest and eventually this became a full rebellion against the Gaddafi regime in Libya. Previously, people had challenged the Libyan government about what happened in the riots of 1996 when the inmates were killed, but the government has worked hard to keep secret the details. Finally, Terbil was able to get to them and effect change.

"The Social Network" was one of the biggest movies in the past year, grossing about $97 million in theaters. The movie educated many people, mostly older people who had not adapted to the information age, about Facebook and social network culture. However, the truly influential person and inspiration for the movie is Mark Zuckerberg, who definitely deserves to be among the most influential people in the world. Zuckerberg, now 26, is the founder of Facebook, a website that changed the way we communicate and enabled us to stay in touch more easily and give us something to do to waste time.

Other people in the entertainment industry including German tennis star Kim Clijsters, actor Colin Firth, and singers Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars made the list. However, one big name was left off - Lady Gaga. I personally think Gaga did a lot more to influence society than these others and would be in my top 10. I see people imitating her everywhere and her daring personality makes her someone everyone notices, whether you like her style or not.

Time's publishing of a 100 most influential list has been an annual occurrence since 2004. Time takes an online poll where the general public can vote for who they think belongs on the list, but ultimately, editors and scholars debate for days about where to rank people.