Mark Zuckerberg - Agenda Setters 2009

Name: Mark Zuckerberg

Title: Facebook founder

Position: 6    Last year: 47

Why? Social networking wunderkind

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As founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg topped the Agenda Setters list in 2007 after the social network really took off, but he plummeted to 47 last year as judges felt his time had passed. This year's return to the top 10 suggests otherwise.

Now the grand old age of 25, Zuckerberg founded the social networking phenomenon while studying at Harvard in 2004 and now presides over a company that is valued at around $10bn and topped 300 million active users globally in 2009.

During the past 12 months, he has masterminded the launch of a new log-in system for non-Facebook sites (Facebook Connect), improved the site's search functionality and ushered in a new Twitter-like update system.

The company has also attracted $200m of new investment from Digital Sky Technologies and boosted its IP by acquiring social network feed aggregation company, FriendFeed.

However, it's not all been plain sailing as concerns have been raised about the company's privacy policies. It was forced to back down from a policy where it held perpetual rights to content uploaded by users in February.

Summing up Zuckerberg's influence, one Agenda Setters judge said Facebook is "becoming the de facto interface for human digital engagement" which could potentially include business use in the near future.

Another panellist said: "Like it or loath it, Facebook continues to be disruptive of so much. Social mores, advertising models and even insurance actuarial calculations are all being influenced by FB."